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HISTORY 



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FBOM ITS OKIGIN UNTIL THE YEAR 1760. 



BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES OF ITS EARLY MINISTERS. 

BY THE 

HEV. RICHARD 1 WEBSTER, 

LATE PASTOR OF THE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, MAUCH CHUNK, PA. 



'% glcmoit flf tire Juttlror, 

BY THE REV. C. VAN RENSSELAER, D.D. 

AND 

^tt historical Introduction, 

BY THE REV. WILLIAM BLACKWOOD, D.D. 



PUBLISHED BY AUTHORITY OF THE PRESBYTERIAN HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 



PHILADELPHIA: 

JOS i: I'll M. WILSON, 

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Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1857, by 

JOSEPH M. WILSON, 

in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States for the Eastern District of 
Pennsylvania. 



NOTICE. 



The Presbyterian Historical Society resolved, in 1853, to 
publish the Eev. Eichard Webster's "History of the Presbyte- 
rian Church." A committee, consisting of C. Van Eensselaer, 
John C. Backus, and Samuel Agnew, was appointed, with 
power to take measures to carry the resolution into effect. 
Various circumstances interfered to prevent the publication of the 
work until the present time. 

>• the committee was appointed, the basis of the Presbyte- 
rian Historical Society has been enlarged so as to include other 
branches of the Presbyterian church. It is, therefore, proper to 
Btate thai the Society itself is not to be considered as committed to 
any of the controversial statements of the present history; but 
merely as issuing it under its general patronage and authority, 
after the manner of other Historical Societies. 

This volume of Church History is the first volume of the 
PUBLICATIONS OF THE TEESBYTEEIAX HISTOEICAL 

SOCIETY. 

C. Van Rensselaer, 

Chairman Ex. Cum. of P. II. S. 

In. i MitF.R 22, 1856. 



CONTENTS. 



PAGB 

Memoib 11 

Lntkouuctio.n 45 



PART I. 

HISTORICAL. 

CHAPTER I. 

State of Ulster during the Reigns of James I. and Charles I. — Trials of the 
ter Presbyterians — The Eagle's "Wing — Bishop Biamhall — Mr. Castell — 
His plan for introducing the Gospel into the Colonies — The Battle of Dunbar 
— Scots Prisoners sent to the Colonies — 1670 to 1680, Scottish Presbyterians 
settle in Virginia, and procure a Minister from Ireland — Settlements in 
Maryland — 1080, Colonel Stevens applies to Laggan Presbytery for a Minis- 
ter — Efforts of Scottish noblemen and others to settle Carolina — 1684, Other 
prisoners sent from Scotland to Carolina. — Lord Cardross — Settlements on 
the Potomac and Patuxent — Scotsmen join in purchasing the Jerseys — Scott, 
of Pitlochic — Voluntary exiles — Barclay, of Urie — Hume, of Paisley — Emi- 
gration to Jersey, Delaware, and Virginia — Dutch Reformed Congregations 
— Society of Friends — Ranters — John Labadie — Delusion in NewEnglaud — 
Efforts made in Bdassaohnsettfl to send the Gospel to Virginia — Episcopal 
ciiuivii' — Baptist — Presbyterianisn] in Philadelphia — Francis Makcmio — 
Other Ministers — State of Morals — Religious Liberty in the Colonies Go-TS 

CHAPTER II. 

Openii nth Century — 1 1 igli-Churchism again in power — New Jersey 

unit""l to New York — Visootmi Cornbory appointed Governor — Conduct of 

Charon Part; In Pennsylvania, 1701-1703 — Colonel Quarry — George Keith 

r Robert Can, Governor — Fears of compulsory enforoement of Con- 

■y — Society for Pn>|i:ipitiiig the Gospel in Foreign Parts incorporated 

in l T < • i Btepi taken to hare a Bishop oonsearated- The Bishop of London 

and Arohbi Two Jacobites consecrated, and Benl 

Bishop of London and the Baptism of rMmmntftrn Vesay, tho 

Trinity Church, New York — Town of Jamaica Settled — rohn Huh- 



b CONTENTS. 

PAQH 

bard and Lord Cornbury — Tyrannical proceedings in Jamaica — Keith urges 
Cornbury to further harsh Steps — Samuel Bownas — Hempstead settled — 
Further proceedings of Keith and other Episcopalians — Irregularities of the 
Episcopal Clergy — Proceedings in Virginia — Several Ministers qualified to 
preach— First meeting of the Presbytery — Note 79-91 

CHAPTER ni. 

The Synod of Ulster before 1697— Records lost— Order adopted in 1G98— Sub- 
scription of Confession adopted, 1705 — Probable course of Philadelphia 
Presbytery — First meeting at Freehold — Second meeting at Philadelphia — 
The Members — Letters from members to Scotland — Aid from London — Soori 
failed — Happy intercourse of the Brethren — Doctrines and Order of the first 
members of the Presbytery — Formation of the Synod — Note — Fund esta- 
blished — Emigration from North of Ireland — Cotton Mather — Ministers 
arrive from Ireland — The Toleration Act extended to Ireland in 1719 — Irish 
Presbyterians refuse the terms of the Toleration Act — Their firm proposed 
to the Government — Mr. Haliday, of Belfast, refuses subscription to the 
Westminster Confession — Troubles in the Irish Church on Creeds and Con- 
fessions — 1721, Gillespie's proceedings in the Synod — Discussions in Synod 
— Further proceedings in the Irish Presbyterian Church — Their effects on 
the Synod — The Antrim Presbytery — Synod of Philadelphia, 1727 — "A full 
Synod" every third year resolved on — Debates on Subscription — Dickinson's 
"Remarks" — Proceedings in Synod of 172'.l — Division in Charleston Pres- 
bytery — The Adopting Act — Samuel Hemphill — Jealousy of the people for 
the Standards — Difference between Gilbert Tennent and Cowell — Proceed- 
ings adopted to save the Church from the intrusion of unsound or immoral 
ministers from other Churches — Supplies from New England — From Eng- 
land — from Ireland — From Scotland — Presbyterianism in New England — 
Emigration from 1718 till 1740 mainly Presbyterian — Effect on the 
Churches 92-120 

CHAPTER IV. 

Identity of Discipline in the Irish, Scottish, and American Churches — Family 
Training — Ministerial Labours — Presbyterial Oversight — Psalmody — Francis 
Rous — Ministerial Support — Schools — Style of Preaching — Publication of 
Sermons — The " Marrow Controversy" — Ministers come from the Mother- 
Churches — Gilbert Tennent educated in this country — Feeling of other 
bodies towards the Church — 1729, The Synod condemns the prevalence of 
a litigious spirit among Church-members — Order relative to Marriages — 
Limited Intercourse with the Church of Scotland — Correspondence with 
the Scottish Assembly, and with the Society for Propagating Christian 
Knowledge 121-131 

CHAPTER V. 

State of Society before the "Great Revival" — Intelligence of Revivals abroad 
— Effects on the Churches — Decline of Godliness lamented — Means adopted 



CONTENTS. 7 

PAGE 

by the Synod — Gilbert Tennent — Synod adopts his Views — Philadelphia 
Presbytery complies with Recommendations — State of affairs in New Jersey 
— Synod of 1735 — Exercise of Authority — John Cross — Overture from Lewes 
Presbytery on Ministerial Preparation — Discussions caused thereby — The 
Revival in progress — Arrival of Whitefield — Reception in Philadelphia, 
and in New York — Franklin's Estimate of Whitefield — Sources of his Power 
— He goes southward — Returns from Georgia during the following April — 
Followed by great multitudes — He visits New York again — Gilbert Tennent' s 
Sermon on an "Unconverted Ministry" — The Revival at Fagg's Manor — 
Meeting of Synod — Large attendance — Effects of Revival Sermons 132-148 



CHAPTER VI. 

Continued Discussions in Synod respecting the Trials of Candidates for the 
Ministry — Present rule continued — Protest — An explanatory Overture — 
Proceedings of Gilbert Tennent and Samuel Blair — Minute adopted — Mild 
Conduct of the majority of Synod — Contrasted with the action of New 
Haven Association — Meeting of the Commission of Synod — Appearances of 
Division — Efforts to induce Whitefield to visit Boston — His progress thither 
from Georgia — His Reception — " The Querists" — Gilbert Tennent goes to 
Boston — Whitefield again in Philadelphia — His progress southward — Dis- 
-ion in Donegal Presbytery — Complaints against Alexander — Cross, of 
Baskingridge — Divisions — William Tennent and the Philadelphia Presbytery 
— Synod meets, in May, 1741 — Continued Irritations — State of Religion in 
the Synod and in New England contrasted — Preparations in Synod for 
business — Protestation read by Robert Cross — Twelve Ministers and eight 
Elders sign this Protest — Parties in the Synod — The Minority withdraw — 
Effects of the division, and the state of the Parties — Letter of Andrews 
to Pierson 149-181 



CHAPTER VII. 

Fynnd proceeds with business after withdrawal of the Brunswick Brethren — 
Overture adopted — Commission appointed — Meeting in Juno of the ex- 
cluded Brethren at Philadelphia — Blair appointed to prepare a paper on 
; in the Church, and Tennent an answer to the Protest — Applications 
from numerous places to the Brunswick Brethren — Qreaghead and the 
Bolemn League and Covenant — Creaghead withdraws — Davenport in Con- 
it— Moravians in Pennsylvania —Charge against Rowland — Anxieties 
of Gilbert Tennent — Dickinson In Boston — Gilbert Tennent preaches in 
. ik against the Moravians— Synod meets to Philadelphia in May, 
1742 — Conference with the Brunswick Brethren proposed an [nterloquitux 
Brethren bring in a Protest) irhioh Is sustained 
— The Brunswick Brethren withdraw—The Nottingham Sermon again — 
Letter from Andre" In New England— Creaghead 

and a portion of hi* people adopt Cnmcroninn I'rinciplei Correspondence 
oi Whiteneld— Synod of I ■' m at to the Brunswick 



CONTENTS. 

PAOI 

Party — Other Proposals from the New York Brethren — Action of the Synod 
— Application from Virginia to Scotland for Preachers — Synod of 1744 — 
Davenport retracts his Errors — General Association of Connecticut advise 
against communion with Whitefield — Synod of 1745 — Committees ap- 
pointed in order to adjustment of difficulties — Their efforts ineffectual — 
Whitefield again in Philadelphia. — Plan adopted in Synod for Union 182-217 



CHAPTER VIII. 

Concessions of the New-Side Brethren to those of New York — Philadelphia 
Synod meets, May 29, 1746 — Proposals for Intercourse — New York Synod 
meets in the Spring — No action on the Proposals of the Philadelphia Synod 
this Year — Nor in 1747 nor in 1748 — No action on Union in the Old Synod in 
1747 or 1748 — In 1749, proposals made in New York Synod — Submitted to 
the Philadelphia Synod — Referred to the Commission and to the Presby- 
teries — Loss of Presbyterial Records — Action of the New York Commission — 
Meetings of the Synods of New York, May 16, 1750, and of the Philadelphia 
Synod, May 23, 1750 — Their respective Plans for Union — Consideration of 
these Plans — Answer of the New York Synod — Inaction of the Philadelphia 
Synod on this subject in 1 753 — New York Synod of 1754 — Philadelphia Synod, 
1755 — Reply of New York Synod to the Philadelphia Brethren — Action 
thereon by the Philadelphia Brethren — How received by the Synod of New 
York — Philadelphia Synod of 1756 — And of the New York Synod in the Fall 
— In their next meeting they agree to assemble in Philadelphia at the same 
time with the Philadelphia Synod — Proposal accepted by the latter body — 
They meet in the Second Presbyterian Church in May, 1758 218-239 



CHAPTER IX. 

Whitefield in 1745— News of the Rebellion of '45— Further labours of White- 
field — The Great Valley of Virginia — Philadelphia Synod's care for Virginia 
— Extension of the Church through Western Virginia and Carolina — Irish 
Congregations in Pennsylvania weakened thereby — Creaghead applies to the 
Associate Synod of Edinburgh — Arrival of Culbertson, Telfair, and Kinloch 
— Points of agreement between the Associate Presbytery and the Reformed 
— Old-Side Synod direct McDowell and Smith to prepare a Representation 
for circulation, showing the most dangerous principles and practices of the 
Seceders — Gellatly's Reply to the New-Side Brethren — Answered by Samuel 
Finley and Robert Smith — Covenanters join with the Anti-Burghers and 
Burghers and form the Associate Synod in 1782 — Peace in the Churches in 
New Jersey — Difference of increase in the Synods — Reasons for the dif- 
ference — Effects of the Revival on Church Government — State of the 
Churches in New England — Synod of Philadelphia agrees to establish a 
School — Three Presbyteries meet to adopt a plan for establishing a School 
— Action resolved on, and Alison placed at the head of the Institution — 
Correspondence with Professor Hutcheson, of Glasgow, respecting the 
School — Alison removes to Philadelphia — The School changed to Elk — 



CONTEXTS. 9 

PAGB 

Aid afforded to the School under Samson Smith — Presbytery of New York 
aim at founding a first-class Literary Institution — Council of New Jersey 
grant charter for such an Institution — College commenced at Elizabethtowu 
— Efforts made to promote the welfare of the College in England — Attempt 
to send Pemberton to England on behalf of the College — Davies and Tennent 
Bent — Their success in England, Scotland, and Ireland — A Divinity Pro- 
fessor appointed in Yale College — Revivals of Religion in Yale and in 
Nassau Colleges — Death of President Burr, and of Finley — Articles con- 
tained in the "Plan of Union" of the Synods 240-270 



CHAPTER X. 

Importance of the Document as finally adopted — Effects of the remodelling the 
Presbyteries — Relative influence of the two Synods — Differences, in 17G2, on 
trial of Samson Smith — Other causes of difficulty — Proceedings in 1764, 
1766, and 17G6 — Action in the case of Donegal and Carlisle Presbyteries — 
Philadelphia Presbytery test the sense of Article VI. of the Plan of Union, 
in the cases of Magaw and John Beard — Second Presbytery of Philadelphia 
feed far one year — Case of Hugh Williamson — The Old-Side men offended 
with the- deaisioD as offensive to the New England Churches — Dissent of the 
.1 Presbytery of Philadelphia — Reply of the Synod — In 1774, Tate 
requests a review of the action of Synod — The Act rescinded, and a Substi- 
tute adopted — Important Minute of 1784, relative to Ministers and Licen- 
tiates from abroad — Desponding tone of the Episcopal Ministers — State of 
affairs in Episcopal Church — Interference of New-Side Brethren in settle- 
ment of an Episcopal Minister — Proceedings connected therewith — Alison 
proposes, is 17'w, to establish a Magazine — Correspondence with the Con- 
Bociated Churches of Connecticut resolved on — A Convention meets at Eliza- 
bethtown — Election-strife in New York — Concluding Observations 271-294 



BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH 

OF THE 

REV. RICHARD WEBSTER. 



Tiff, writer of this sketch was on familiar terms of intercourse with the 
late Rev. Richard Webster. Born and brought up in the same city, 
contemporaries in age, and students in the same theological seminary, a 
friendship existed between us which ripened with the progress of time 
and was interrupted only by death. My friend, in his will, bequeathed to 
■M hie historical manuscripts: they are now published in the same condi- 
tion in which he left them. 

In our last interview, I asked Mr. Webster when his history would be 
ready for the press. He answered, with a smile, "Never; I am all the 
time making corrections and additions." The truth is, that his work was 
left in an imp rfeol state; but it will nevertheless be highly appreciated 
by the public as a valuable repository of Presbyterian history and bio- 
tnphy. 

Another remark [may make here respecting his work is, that it only 
the early portion of the history of our church. The 
period embraced In the presenl volume is a little more than half a century, 
and is limited to the reunion of the Synods of New STori and Philadel- 
phia, In 1758. The reader, lhrrcfi»ru, must imt iwpirct to tind a rompleta 

history of the Presbyterian ohuroh in the United States. The early poxt 

11 



12 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF THE 

tion, which is exceedingly rich in events and in illustrious men, possesses 
a peculiar interest; and this is the portion comprehended within the 
scope of Mr. Webster's researches, now published. 

It is my purpose to make a few remarks on the character of the la- 
mented author of this volume, chiefly in connection with his devotion to 
history ; and to incorporate into this sketch, on other points, the views 
and opinions of brethren who were more intimately acquainted with his 
ministerial character and habits of life. 

FacHARD "Webster was born in the city of Albany, New York, on the 
14th of July, 1811, and was the youngest child of Charles R. Webster 
and Cynthia Steele. His father was a prominent bookseller in that city, 
and publisher of an influential newspaper. Richard's love of books and 
of newspaper-writing was undoubtedly nurtured by his father's occupation. 
His mother belonged to one of the good old families in Albany whose 
praise is in the churches. The young child was trained according to the 
principles of the covenant of promise, and was brought up under the 
ministry and ordinances of the First Presbyterian Church, which was at 
that time under the pastoral care of the Rev. Dr. William Neill, and sub- 
sequently of the Rev. Dr. Henry R. Weed and the Rev. Dr. John N. 
Campbell, the latter of whom is still pastor of the church. Richard 
Webster early professed his faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, and, while 
the "dew of youth" was upon him, united himself with the followers of 
the Redeemer. The principal facts in his life will be presented in ex- 
tracts from the personal reminiscences and testimony of others. 

God gave to Richard Webster a good, vigorous intellect. Even a 
casual observer could not fail to see the flashes of intelligence which ema- 
nated from no ordinary mental constitution. In the true acceptation of the 
word he might be called a talented man, — sprightly, however, rather than 
logical, and original and ready rather than very profound. Well culti- 
vated in early life, his mind expanded under the influence of the collegiate 
and theological course, and received great strength and discipline from the 
higher studies incident to his profession. His intellectual powers were 
far above the average of those of his ministerial brethren; and, although 
not in the first rank, occupied by the privileged few alone, he was certainly 



REV. RICHARD WEBSTER. 13 

prominent among the many -who belong to the class of able, well-endowed, 
useful men. 

With a retentive and excellent memory, Mr. Webster treasured up what 
he acquired. He was a hard student all his life. His professional edu- 
cation was regarded only as a means to an end. The preliminary course 
had but prepared him to continue his literary and religious investigations 
with the greater zeal and perseverance. Many, it is to be feared, err 
in placing too great reliance upon the discipline and knowledge early 
acquired, instead of aiming at a steady and progressive improvement by 
means of their preparatory resources. Mr. Webster, instead of relaxing 
from study, made it his daily work. He became more and more familiar 
with the original languages of Scripture, and prosecuted his theological 
studies to an extent quite unusual among the temptations of an active 
missionary life. If not a very learned man, he was more so than many 
who, owing to circumstances, have attained a higher reputation. 

Mr. Webster possessed warm social feelings. The emotional part of 
his nature was simple and earnest, and was a true balance to his insatiable 
love of knowledge. When free from restraint and among friends, he 
loved to indulge his natural humour. Few persons, indeed, had more 
wit, more genuine playfulness, a more rich vein of native fun. This 
exuberant capacity for amusing others often manifested itself in pleasant 
and jocose remarks producing irresistible laughter. His nature was emi- 
nently social; but deafness interrupted, especially in the latter part of his 
life, this genial flow of soul. In the family, his affectionate disposition 
showed it.self in endearing and delightful manifestations. 

Mr. Webster's piety was sincere and full of good fruits. With much 
of tliu emotional in bis nature, religion drew forth the homage of his soul. 
His affections were set upon things above. He was a holy man. No one 
Hold mistake the purposes of his life. His heart was in the ministry of 
reconciliation. Devotion to the Lord Jesus Christ was his reigning pas* 
■ion. Hi-; bad consecrated himself to his Master's service with a view to 
preach tin- gospel among the heathen; but, when Providence seemed to 
tlnow obstaoles in this direction of his choice, he joyfully went to a mis- 
sionary-field at home, doubtless under the guidance of bis heavenly Father, 
who greatly blessed him in his labours. Living a sealons, self-denying, 
and aetive life, he aooomplisbed much fox the adyaaoement of the lie- 



14 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF THE 

deeraer's kingdom. A tender compassion for souls was the beauty and 
power of his ministerial character. A sweet, earnest love, that came from 
God, enabled him to toil in the destitute coal-regions of Pennsylvania, 
edifying the saints and exhorting sinners to repentance. The Rev. A. B. 
Cross, who preached his funeral sermon, fitly chose for his text, "Ye are 
witnesses, and God also, how holily, and justly, and unblamably we be- 
haved ourselves among you that believe ; as ye know how we exhorted, 
and comforted, and charged every one of you, as a father doth his chil- 
dren, that ye should walk worthy of God, who hath called you unto his 
kingdom and glory :" 1 Thess. ii. 10-12. 

The Rev. F. De W. Ward, of Geneseo, New York, was the class- 
mate and room-mate of Mr. Webster at Union College and at Princeton 
Theological Seminary. Mr. Ward was deeply afflicted by the intelligence 
of the death of his friend, and sent the following notice for publication 
in the Presbyterian Magazine. I thought it expedient, however, to 
reserve it for the present sketch : — 

" Geneseo, New York. 

"lam a mourner. A friend, greatly respected for his richly-stored mind, — a 
Christian brother, dearly beloved for his pious heart, — has fallen before the great 
destroyer, 'whose shafts none can repel.' Rev. Richard Webster, despite the 
prayers and tears of a weeping family and a large circle of loving parishioners 
and clerical associates, has been called away from us. Our loss is his gain. He 
has doubtless gone to join the company of ' the just made perfect.' 

" He was my fellow-collegian at Schenectady, my room-mate for nearly three 
years at Princeton, a most faithful and valued correspondent during my ten years' 
missionary-life in India, and a visitor than whom none was more welcome to my 
home. I have known him long and well, and have loved him the more with every 
year's extended acquaintance. 

" His conversion occurred at Albany, his native city, and was whole-hearted. 
When he united with the church, he laid upon the altar of his Saviour mental 
capacities of rare excellence and power. His was a rapid mind, a poetic genius, a 
retentive memory, quick wit, great ability of application, indomitable perseverance, 
untiring energy, and all devoted to Christ ! In naming these characteristics I do 
not flatter. The grave is a place where truth alone is to be spoken. 

"I said that his conversion was deep, — 'whole-hearted.' He has told me (not 
with ostentation : that was far from him) with what pleasure he waited the hour 



REV. RICHARD WEBSTER. 15 

of noon, when his law-employer would go to dinner, leaving him alone to read his 
Bible and enjoy his private devotions undisturbed. Nor could I detect, during our 
long acquaintance, any diminution of this devotional temper, — any thing that would 
seem to say, 'Oh that I were as in days past!' I have rarely met one who so 
loved his Bible. He had a 'Woodworth' edition, and with loving intensity did 
he daily read and study its pages. That dear book! — I think I see it still, as it 
used to lie upon his table, — plain in binding, plainer still in paper and type ; but 
it contained a stream to which he was ever resorting, to drink of its life-giving 
waters. 

"He was in heart a foreign missionary. Ahmednuggar was the field he had 
chosen. Upon the eve of departure Providence said, 4 You must not go.' The 
prohibition seemed strange, when the call was so loud from the grave of Gordon 
Hall and his devoted associates, — ' Send the gospel to the land of Brahma.' Our 
brother grieved and wept over the disappointment. But his was not the dis- 
position to say, • If I cannot go where I would I will turn to another profession.' 
With the same self-devotion which would have sent him to India, he sought for a 
destitute locality on Christian ground. He found it among the mountains of Penn- 
sylvania. The history of his life there, others' pens will, I trust, give to the 
church and the world. Our mutual friend and classmate, Dr. D. X. Junkin, told 
me, in May last, that, ' notwithstanding the sad disadvantage of his deafness, not 
a member of our class had accomplished more, if as much, for our church as Mr. 
Webster, — nearly a score of churches (if I am not misinformed) owing their exist- 
ence to his agency.' 

" My last letter from his loved pen contained a warm request to come and see 
him. Would that I had done so! And shall all that he wrote find a grave with 
his body? Those thousand pages of manuscript, upon almost every possible 
subject : — his researches in church history, — his letters, full to overflowing of fact 
and thought and spiritual wit, — essays, orations, and poems, — his discourse upon 
tin- death of the missionary Barr, — his many, many sermons, exegetical, doc- 
trinal, and hortatory: — is there no one to collect all these, read them, and compile 
a volume of 'Remains'? My judgment is greatly at fault if such a volume would 
not be well received by the Christian public, while the proceeds might go towards 
a family left in far from affluent circumstances. 

'• I urn a mourner. Two of my best-beloved friends and zealous co-workers in 
the Christian field are in their graves: — Lawrence in India, Webster in America, — 
kindred in heart, and one now in heavenly worship. May my last end be like 
theirs ! 

'• A lieu, my much-loved brother! In the words with which you closed a letter 

to me years ago, ' Very pleasant hast thou been to mc; thy love to mo was peering 

th>- lore Of Women! 1 1!'.- it mini: HO to live, that, iii the genend revelation, these 

■ II see thee ngain in peace, tin -<■ ears shall bear, and tlii- heart shall again 

commingle and coalesce with the heart of him for whom I mum a. W. ' 



16 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF THE 

In order to exhibit more clearly some of the traits of the Rev. Richard 
Webster's character, I will lay before the reader a graphic letter of the 
Rev. Benjamin J. Wallace, editor of the Presbyterian Quarterly 
Review, Philadelphia, who was a classmate of our departed brother in 
the Theological Seminary at Princeton, New Jersey. 



" Presbyterian House, Philadelphia, 1 
July 9, 1856. J 

"My Dear Sir: — 

" It is a melancholy pleasure to comply with your request, to endeavour to give 
those not so well acquainted with our departed friend Webster as were you and 
myself, some idea of his character as it impressed me. 

" He came to the Seminary at Princeton while I was a student there. I think I 
was a year with him before I knew much of him. We were not in the same class, 
and he was not a person much given to seeking new friends. I cannot now 
recall the occasion of our intimate acquaintance; but I remember well that it 
was immediate, and a source of great pleasure to me while I continued at 
Princeton. 

"I may as well state at once that the keynote of Richard Webster's character, 
as it was revealed to me in the confidence of youthful friendship, was one hardly 
suspected by those who knew him in after years. He was a poet. I do not mean 
by this merely that he wrote verses, or only that he took great delight in the works 
of the great masters of the imagination. My meaning is, that he was a poet in the 
essence of his nature, and that he had all the special traits which go to make up 
that strange and interesting character. No one can gain the right position from 
which to see him without keeping this in view. His mind was indeed so absorbed 
in later times by things which he considered much more important, that he did not 
give much time to poetry as an art ; but it was impossible to root out from his 
nature its constituent elements. I remember, at this distance of time, but two 
of his poetic ideas, and I will mention them as specimens of his mood of early 
thought. 

"One occurs in a critique on Shakspeare. 'Artists have found,' Webster fays, 
• great difficulty in painting the different shades of white in nature ; and, in order to 
bring them out, they have generally contrasted them with dark colours. Writers 
have met with a similar difficulty in delineating the female character. Their plan is 
to contrast it with impurity or ruggedness. Shakspeare alone, like Nature, shades 
whiteness with white.' Mrs. Jameson's ' Characteristics of Women' might almost be 
taken as a commentary on this admirable criticism. 

"The other thought — or fancy — occurs in a beautiful poem, the finest, I think, 
he ever wrote — ' The Funeral of Shelley.' The body of this exquisite, though, 
it must be regretfully added, infidel poet, was, it will be remembered, burned on 



REV. RICHARD WEBSTER. 17 

the shores of the Gulf of Spezia, by Byron and others. The flame, Medwin de- 
clares, in blazing up, was coloured like the rainbow. Webster says, it 

'Gracefully curl'd up, 
As if from offend flowers, that to the flame 
Gave all their beauty.' 

"You, my dear sir, who knew Webster so well, will be able, with this clue, better 
to understand his peculiar nature. You will better appreciate his acuteness, his 
peculiar kind of shrewdness, his playful fancy, his satirical turn, his reverence for 
everj* thing old, his passion for books, his power of living within himself and 

' Chewing the cud of sweet and bitter fancy,' 

and, in fine, that slight dash of eccentricity which you must have often noticed. 
That he kept his poetic nature so much to himself is one of the marvels of his 
peculiar genius. 

"Richard Webster has never been appreciated. That he bore up so bravely, and, 
on the whole, patiently and meekly, — that he laboured kindly on in an obscure place 
for a lifetime, with no more restlessness than was betrayed in an occasional satiric 
hit at some of our famous men, — is a wonder, attributable partly to the nobleness of 
his nature, and, we must devoutly add, partly to the grace of God, which was given 
|q him in no common measure. It was his misfortune, as men estimate things, to 
have a body of most frail and nervous organization: he reminded one of Charles 
Uunb, only that he was sharper, and thus not so genial. He was very deaf, even 
at the Seminary; and it grew upon him steadily with increasing years. He was 
very near-sighted, and he grew prematurely old. A man who always appeared to 
me young, I found spoken of as old, — almost (partly from his connection with ancient 
! documents) as an antique. These defects, especially his deafness, inter- 
fsvad materially with his power as a public speaker. He heard none of the ordi- 
nary Bonndfl of nature in the fields or woods ; he heard nothing of the mixed sounds 
of a great city : he heard nothing, he once wrote to me, but ' the human voice 
more loudly than usual.' 

"This comparative isolation from society, and physical unfitness for much of the 
- of life, drove him to history. Passionately devoted to the Presbyterian 
church, holding our Faith and ( trder to bo the very primitive form nnd mould of 
truth, he COUld conceive of nothing more noble and venerable than Cal- 
vinism and Preebyterianism. Around the obnrab ho poured the wealth of 
erenoe, hit Imagination, and his affection; and by now much he was r< - 
from being a great aotor In the present, h" determined to chronicle what 
tin the past It was imp one so aotive, so versatile, so eegeis 

Iveaudnd to one small spot: it lav in hisnsftune to expand itsrlf; 
and, if he oould nol be an i tatesman, hi- instinoni led him next to be 

:. historian. Fet, after all, foi ire would notation the partiality of 



18 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF THE 

friendship, even over bis grave, to lead us from the strict truth, — as he would 
always aud under all circumstances have been rather artist than statesman, so he 
had not so much the large comprehensiveness and far-seeing sagacity of the true 
historian, as the keen observation, the acute insight, the delight in an event, the 
homelike feeling, the fondness for anecdote and incident, which make the bio- 
grapher. And it is no mean thing to be known to after-times, for how long we may 
not yet say, as the biographer of the Presbyterian church in America. 

" Of Mr. Webster's course as a pastor, as a member of church courts, and in the 
varied relations of the ministry, others can speak better than myself. We were 
separated, during his ministry, by distance, and by our position in different 
branches of our church, and differed materially as to some important church ques- 
tions. But I can well believe all that I have heard of his excellence in these rela- 
tions. I think, however, that I can appreciate, better than those who knew him 
later in life, the difficulties which he overcame in himself before he settled quietly 
down among the mountain-valleys, as a missionary and pastor to a scattered, and 
in a great degree rude, population, limiting his ambition to the founding of a pres- 
bytery, of which the younger ministers called him the father. His fervid, discur- 
sive, and somewhat romantic nature was more characteristically shown in his con- 
secrating himself to the missionary work in India, whither he would have gone bad 
not circumstances entirely beyond his control prevented him. It was, perhaps, 
the tenderness of his heavenly Father which shielded him from trials which he 
might not have been able to bear, accepting the sincere and earnest intent for the 
accomplished deed. 

«« What was especially admirable in Webster was the practical good sense with 
which he accepted his narrow conditions, feeling that God had fixed his lot, and 
addressing himself with constant and patient industry to every field of exertion 
which lay within his reach. There is something of the true sublime in this self- 
abnegation, the laying aside of vain imaginings and the dissolving of day- 
dream, to accomplish the plain, practical work given us to do. No one can be 
sure what he is fit for, until the providence of God confirm his aspirations ; but one 
thing we may all do : — we may heartily and cheerfully address ourselves to what- 
ever work is actually allotted to us, be it great or small. Webster exem- 
plified this greatness. • He that ruleth his spirit is greater than he that taketh 
a city.' 

" His death-scene was very interesting. You will permit me to refer to it, as 
illustrative of his inner or more hidden character. I think it is Goethe who 
remarks that the poet is one who carries all through life the fresh feelings of 
childhood. There belongs to such intensely vital organisms as Webster's — where 
there is no robustness, but vivid nervous energy — a kind of elastic tenacity of life, 
such as we see in children, who rebound from attacks of disease that lay strong 
men low. Accordingly, he could not believe that he was dying. Like all of us, 
he had some idea about death ; but it was not realized. ' Doctor,' he said, ' yon 



REV. RICHARD WEBSTER. 19 

must be mistaken. I cannot be dying. I feel naturally; I am in full possession 
of all my powers. I feel very much as I have always felt.' On being assured 
that his hours were numbered, he said, 'You must know best; but I never con- 
ceived of such a death.' There was, it will be observed, no thought of fear, — his 
preparation for death having been long since made, — but, mingling with his calm 
faith and trust, and with every other feeling suitable for a Christian's death-bed, 
there was a palpable curiosity, a wonder at death, a gazing at this king of ter- 
rors, as though he were overrated, — a fresh, keen sensation, in view of this great 
crisis through which he was now to pass. 'It cannot be death,' he said; 'if it be, 
it is such a death as I never dreamed of.' It is not too much to believe that the 
Saviour, whom he had, amid great disappointment and difficulty, so unfalteringly 
and uncomplainingly served, kept all evil influences from that death-bed, gave him 
to part from life sweetly and pleasantly, and opened for him so gently the portals 
of heaven, as that the poet-Christian felt, in its loveliness, something so natural, 
that he said, ' I never dreamed of such a heaven. It is most glorious ; but, what 
is wonderful, it is not strange. It is only a brighter home!' 

"You have, my dear sir, so repeatedly assured me that I might write just what 
I pleased of our mutual friend, that I have perhaps indulged my feelings too 
much. The public may not be interested in my view of Richard Webster. I can 
only say that I can think of him no otherwise; and that, however imperfectly I 
have answered your expectation, I have done what I could. 

"Very truly and respectfully yours, 

" Benjamin J. Wallace. 

" The Rev. C. Van Rensselaer, D.D." 

Having given the testimony of classmates at the college and semi- 
nary, who had abundant opportunities of discovering character, as well as 
tacf in delineating it, I next present to the reader the testimony of a 
parishioner. The Rev. JAMES Scott, of Holmcsburg, Pennsylvania, 
who was formerly a teacher at Mauch Chunk, attended on Mr. Webster's 
ministry, and partook of the hospitalities of the parsonage. Mr. Scott 
mites as follows: — 

" IIoLMEsnuRO, Pa., August, I80G. 
in: — 
" DlAB Sin: — It affords mc much pleasure to learn that you are engaged in the 
publication of tin; late Bev. 11. Winter's work on the History <>f the Presbyterian 

church in this oonntry; and, in oompllanoe with yonr req t, it gives great 

1 -, .in- disposal Hi" following reminiscences of one whom I 

(Vmml, lmnimri'd n? a mini -tcr, ami loved ns a father. 
"About eight years ago, it was, in the providence of God, my lot to bfl cm- 



20 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF THE 

ployed as teacher in the grammar-school at Mauch Chunk. I was then a 
stranger in this land ; and it requires the heart of a stranger to realize the full 
■weight and preciousness of true Christian friendship. It was then and there that 
I was first made truly sensible of the reality of those bonds which unite the many 
members of the one mystical body. The Rev. Mr. Webster quickly sought me out, 
and extended to me a most cordial welcome. From that hour till the day I left for 
Princeton I found in his house a most grateful asylum. His friendship towards 
me increased day by day. His excellent library was at my service at all times, 
and his counsel was always good and seasonable. He threw around me a chain 
of such delightful circumstances as I never again expect to find in this world of 
change and turmoil. I need not say how fraught with instruction was the con- 
versation of such a man. His learning was varied and extensive. He read much, 
and seemed to have remembered all he read. His memory for names of persons 
and places was proverbial. 

"His Sabbath services were always interesting and instructive. The matter 
was excellent, — plain, doctrinal, practical, and experimental truths, often min- 
gled with some appropriate illustrations, drawn from his favourite study, — history. 
As he was long deprived of the sense of hearing, it would be preposterous to judge 
of his pulpit performances by elocutional standards. 

" He was earnest in his delivery, being sometimes moved even to tears. 

" Again and again have I heard him, in a strain of extreme tenderness, expostu- 
lating with sinners, beseeching them, by the mercies of God, to turn from their 
evil ways and live. 

" The low state of religion that prevailed for many years in Mauch Chunk 
greatly grieved him. During this period, the plaintive tone of the weeping prophet 
often characterized his pulpit services. Especially on one occasion I recollect 
how deeply he was affected. His heart seemed overwhelmed within him. I went, 
in company with a mutual friend of his and mine, with a view of administering 
some word of comfort. He freely unbosomed to us his whole soul ; and truly his 
feelings were such as could arise from nothing less than the most vivid apprehen- 
sion of spiritual things, the value of the soul, and the worth of the Saviour. 

" But we can gain a clearer insight into the heart of the man from the following 
selections out of a correspendence stretching over the whole period of my semi- 
nary life, and up to my settlement in my present field. 

"lam yours, fraternally, 

"James Scott." 

The following are extracts from the letters of Mr. "Webster referred 
to in Mr. Scott's communication. These specimens of Christian cor- 
respondence with a young friend are highly creditable to head and 
heart : — 



REV. RICHARD WEBSTER. 21 

" The death of the excellent Dr. Miller brought to my mind sensibly the many 
and great obligations I owe to him. When I was about to leave the seminary he 
prayed with me, and parted with me most affectionately. I can never be thankful 
enough to God for his mercy to our beloved church iu sparing him, through thirty- 
eix years, to aid so efficiently in training her sons for the ministry. His venerated 
and beloved colleague may yet live to see many of us go before him to the dust. 
In our presbytery, every minister but Mr. Hunt was trained at Princeton." 

" We have just closed an interesting series of meetings at Nesquehoning. The 
attendance was large, regular, and solemn: ten persons confessed themselves 
deeply concerned about their souls. It was very encouraging." 

" Let nothing hinder you from taking a full course at the seminary. Who is 
sufficient for these things, even with the best training ? Our church is suffering 
with half-educated men. ' Workmen that need not to be ashamed' are needed, 
greatly needed, in this day of lamentable and amazing indifference to the 
means of grace. In this place, swarming with people, I do not think more than 
fifty male heads of families attend any place of worship regularly ; while of the 
younger men a larger proportion attend, but with what shocking carelessness ! 
With sorrow I say it, mine is not a rare case. Sin reigns triumphantly, unto death 
of the soul as well as of the body. Seeing these things are so, how lamentable 
that our spirit is not stirred within us, as was Paul's at Athens ! There, the city 
was wholly given to idolatry ; here, the whole world lieth in wickedness, worship- 
ping and serving the creature rather than the Creator." 

"Now, my dear brother, God has led you in this land of strangers graciously, 
and permitted you to preach the gospel. Value highly the privilege, and mfegnify 
the grace of God in counting you worthy to be put in trust with the ministry. I 
huvc great confidence in your faithfulness as a student, and in your sincerity as a 
follower of Jesus. Desire much to be enabled to do great things for him: espe- 
cially cultivate the spirit of a compassionate, suffering Saviour, that you may con- 
descend to men of low estate, and weep with them that weep. Much is to be done 
- from house to boose; but it cannot be done without the preparation of 
heart which is from the Lord." 

" Hive you made any arrangements yet as to your future field of labour? I 

tru-t that you will remember the Scripture rale of waiting for Che Lord and asking 
counsel of him. Be sets 1 1 1 « ■ bounds of our habitations, and opens tin- doors of 

• -. Oh, may he graoion Ij direot you, and abundantly replenish you with 
tin' spirit of piety, with all saving knowledge, and irlth a large and bl I e» 

e of the fulness of Christ I There arc trials and perplexities In the easv* 



22 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF THE 

cise of the ministry unexpected and wonderful. Paul prayed to be delivered from 
unreasonable and absurd men : we need the like deliverance, but, to escape them, 
we must needs go out of the world. Hence, there is nothing of such unspeakable 
importance and infinite comfort as a childlike trust in God and a sincere and 
hearty endeavour to know and to do God's will. How comfortable to be able to 
say, 'Lord, all my desire is before thee.' 'I will hear what God the Lord will 
speak, for he will speak peace to his people.' • My times are in thy hand.' 

"You will feel the lack of Christian fellowship, — no one to understand your 
motives, to enter into your designs, to help you by example or counsel, sympathy 
or co-operation. How often will you be forced to realize, 'AH seek their own ;' 
and, judging you by themselves, they will attribute all that you do to selfish ends, 
to low-minded cunning. 

"You will grieve to find them that seemed to be pillars savouring only the 
things that be of men, and caring only for the things which perish in the using. 
Even if you do not bitterly cry out, ' My soul is among lions,' you may suffer from 
being 'in a dry land where no water is.' 

"Temptations will arise, — 'musing, the fire burns; then spoke I with my 
tongue,' — as one weary of life, weary of the service of God :— temptations to 
sloth, to discouragement, to self-exaltation, unwisely comparing yourself with 
others. These temptations will harden the heart and hinder prayer. 

"Above all things, be mindful that, as Christ was in this world, so are you in 
this world. He said, ' Yet I am not alone; he that sent me is with me.' May this 
be your comfort too ! 

" Let me hear from you, especially as to what has presented as a future field of 
labour. 

"I wish you would, at some convenient time, write a letter to McKillip on the 
subject of his duty to his soul. His direction is Sacramento, California." 

"You probably heard that, at White Haven, the fault in your public services is 
said to be that your prayers and sermons are too long. Remember they have 
been used to different ministrations, — short in length, not heavily laden with 
instruction, and off-hand in manner. You have been used to the ways of a well- 
trained people, who waited for instruction, and who listened that they might re- 
member. But too many listen now only to be interested for the moment, and 
never remember, much less consider, except it be some striking saying or out- 
landish expression. ' Jesus spake unto them as they were able to bear it.' He 
used similitudes, ' and without a parable spake he not unto them.' The whole 
kingdom of nature furnishes analogies to aid us in understanding the mysteries 
of the kingdom of grace. So does the providence of God in the history of the 
past and the events of to-day. What use did Jesus make of the news that Pilate 
had cruelly murdered the Galileans at the altar? The tower of Siloam had 



EEV. RICHARD WEBSTER. Xd 

probably fallen years before; yet he turns the remembrance of it to account. 
What will suit a mind like yours, accustomed to the catechisms and the valuable 
teachings of an aged pastor, will repulse a mind untutored as a wild ass's colt. 
The Greenlander needs much pains to be taken with him before he can be satisfied 
with venison or turkey: to him, train-oil is at once a necessity and a luxury. 
M;iny a deceived heart feeds on ashes, of choice, and can scarcely stomach any 
thing else. We are sent as physicians to heal a dying world. They can neither 
relish nor profit by the strong meat, save in small quantities. Hence the great 
difficulty of dividing aright the word of God, and of giving to each man a portion 
in due season." 

" I am persuaded that where there is extreme diffidence, or, as in the case of our 

friend at , no fluency, it is decidedly a duty to write out the whole sermon 

in a fair, large hand, to read it over, so as to be entirely familiar with it, and then 
nee it in the pulpit. This was the method of Dr. Green. Mr. Glen uses the same 
method, and his style of preaching is generally and greatly admired. It is true, 
he lii- complete self-possession, — not the slightest embarrassment; and it is our 
duty to cultivate boldness as ambassadors of God. Humility towards God, and 
- in his service, are related as cause and effect. There is a criminal 
timidity growing from want of faith, forgetting that we speak 'as though God did 
beseech men by us.' 

"A missionary who has two or three preaching-places may use the same 
sermon : and, if he does this with a diligent attempt to improve, his success will 
equal his desires. Dr. Franklin says, 'Whitefield never appeared to such advan- 
tage as when preaching a sermon the fortieth time.' Our great danger is, to let 
other things occupy us, ami make our preaching only an accessory, not the main 
-.1 rely, dear brother, on your unfeigned piety to keep you, in a great 
measure, from this error." 



Rev. Dr. I 'avid X. Junkin, now of Hollidaysburg, Pennsyl- 
vani:i, was formerly settled at Greenwich, New Jersey, and was well ac- 
quainted with i. ur departed brother. The intimacy was formed at the 
Theological Seminary, and was nurtured by frequent intercourse as mem- 
bers of the Bame synod. They were friends by social and ecclesiastical 
■ Dr. Junkin thus refers to Mr. Webster in a communication whioh 

is copied from "'/'/<< Presbyterian:" — 

"Hi a College in 1829, and al Princeton Theological Bemfc 

nary la in the latter place thai the writer made hi- acquaintance In 

.1 v be was the devout and conscientious student) the cheerful 



24 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF THE 

companion, the consistent Christian. After completing his seminary course in 
1834, he offered himself, and was accepted, as a foreign missionary by the Ameri- 
can Board. But his increasing deafness threatening to make the acquisition of 
spoken languages difficult, and other causes having delayed his departure, he was 
detained from the foreign field ; and, with the promptness and zeal which ever 
characterized him, he sought one of equal or greater toil and self-denial in his own 
country. 

"In the autumn of 1835, he came to South Easton, Pennsylvania, at the 
instance, it is believed, of the Hon. J. M. Porter, and for a short time laboured in 
that place ; but, the field not proving as encouraging as was hoped, he shortly after- 
wards entered the important field in which he wore out his valuable life and in 
which he was the instrument of such extensive good. 

" On Sabbath, the 1st of November, 1835, the writer, aided by Ruling Elder 
Enoch Green, of Easton, (lately gone to his rest,) organized the Presbyterian 
church of Mauch Chunk, with twenty-four members. On the 4th of the following 
month, accompanied by Brother Webster, he again repaired to Mauch Chunk, 
preached, and introduced the youthful pastor to the little flock that had so lately 
been gathered in those mountain-gorges. On the next evening, (Saturday,) De- 
cember 5, Mr. Webster preached his first sermon in the field of his life-labours ; 
and the next day (Sabbath) the two classmates administered the first Lord's 
Supper that was spread in that congregation. 

" From that time to the hour — indeed, to the moment — of his death, he continued 
to preach Christ crucified to that people, and at many other points in the Pennsyl- 
vania coal-region. He was emphatically the apostle of the coal-fields. He threw 
his earnest heart, his clear, well-furnished mind, his untiring energies, and his 
worldly substance, into the work of evangelizing the population of the mining 
region and towns. With a slender and feeble frame, and amid impediments and 
difficulties that would have deterred most men, he hoped on and toiled on, until, 
with God's blessing, his own immediate flock was enlarged and became an im- 
portant and efficient church, and churches were organized and houses of worship 
reared in all that region. He was indefatigable in preaching, travelling, visiting, 
corresponding, and introducing and sustaining missionaries. Whilst his own 
stipend was very small, he relinquished his allowance from the Board of Missions, 
in order that it might be given to other labourers in his favourite mountain-field. 
Often, like his Master, did he travel on foot to great distances, over steep and 
rugged roads, to carry the gospel to the destitute, and this without hope of earthly 
reward. 

" In the spring of 1838, he was married to Miss Elizabeth Cross, of Baltimore, 
and, in a home of more than usual affection and felicity, found rest amid his toils, 
and solace in his trials. A fonder, a happier, or a wiser husband and father the 
writer has rarely known. 

'- Arduous and widely extended as were our brother's professional labours, he 



REV. RICHARD WEBSTER. 25 

found time for literary effort and historical research; and the columns of the 
Presbyterian, the New York Observer, the Watchman of Vie South, and other 
journals, were enriched by his scholarly and sprightly contributions. The 
readers of these journals will not soon forget 'K. H.,' the finals of his place of 
residence. 

" No one had collected such rich and extensive materials for a history of Ameri- 
can Presbyterianisin ; and, indeed, some of the histories already published are 
indebted to his researches and his liberality in imparting information. It is hoped 
that this portion of his life-labour is in such a shape that it will not be lost to the 
church. 

" Though he seldom published, he not unfrequently wrote in poetry, and some 
of his unpublished verses are worthy a place among the best productions of the 
American muse. 

"Although deprived of the facility for social intercourse which ready hearing 
affords, Mr. Webster was nevertheless a favourite in the social circle. He was a 
cheerful Christian; and his extensive reading, his unfailing memory, his exhaust- 
less fund of anecdote, his sparkling wit, his lively but always barbless repartee, all 
chastened by the most considerate Christian propriety, gave a charm to his con- 
versation that made it ever coveted. 

" But it was as a Christian and a minister that he made his strongest mark upon 
his generation and will be most fondly remembered by his brethren and his sor- 
rowing church. Solemn, earnest, ready, sound, scriptural, illustrative, terse, and 
compact in style, and full of holy unction, his sermons were always impressive, 
and were largely blessed. In pastoral duties he was tender and skilful, and in ex- 
ample such as became the Christian pastor. His death-bed sermons were the most 
impressive of his life. To his dear ones, to his mourning people, and to all that 
approached him, ho most effectively commended, in dying, that gospel he had 
1 when living. His last two pulpit discourses — by a coincidence that 
startled at the time and now seems almost prophetic — were from the texts, 'The 
cup which my Father hath given me, shall I not drink it?' and, 'Enoch walked 
with God, and he was not: for Ood took him.' He had gone from the bed to the 
pulpit, and from the pulpit to the bed, fnun which he never rose. 

"At the time he was seised with hil 1 -• i - 1 illness he was looking forward with 

■ ■ the < ipletion of the aew and elegant ohureh-edinoe, the Beoond built 

daring his pastorate; and one of his lasi efforts at Letter-writing was an Invitation 
to Qu writer to preach at th<' dedication when it Bhotdd be finished. Bui he was 
not permitted, In the body, to witness the oonsnminatlon so dear t<> his heart. But 
will he doI witness it from the bulwark* of the upper temple'.' 
•• I »i ■ l your spaee permil ■ detailed description of the olosing soenee of 'his great 
i man's life, it ooold nol but commend the blessed gospel to your readerii 

|nd V aeh them how tO die. One of the most unselfish men the writer ever knew, 



26 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OP THE 

this characteristic was apparent to the close. With a countenance radiant with the 
joy of salvation, and borne in triumph upon the full tide of the promises, his 
thoughts, his counsels, and his prayers were employed for the good of others, and 
he seemed scarcely to think of himself. The tender husband and father seemed to 
wish to live for his dear ones, and the devoted pastor longed to labour on for his 
Master ; but every such wish was qualified with the language, ' The cup that my 
Father giveth me, shall I not drink it?' ' Not my will, but thine, be done.' With 
his children standing, at his request, where his eye could rest upon them to the 
last, he prayed for them, their mother, and the church, until, with 'Into thy 
hands I commit my spirit,' he peacefully fell asleep in Jesus. 
"Many, as they tearfully retired from that chamber, so 

' Privileged beyond the common walk 
Of virtuous life, quite on the verge of heaven,' 

eaid that now they better understood the prayer, ' Let me die the death of the 
righteous, and let my last end be like his.' " 

The following letter from one of his co-labourers, now at the South, 
will be read with much interest : — 

"Augusta, Ga., September 2, 1856. 
"Rev. C. Van Rensselaer: — 

" Dear Sir : — Permit me to say a few words respecting our deceased brother, 
the late Rev. Richard Webster, of Mauch Chunk. For several years I laboured, 
as a licentiate of Luzerne Presbytery, in the section of country embracing White- 
Haven, Beaver Meadow, and Hazleton, and, during that time, had much friendly 
intercourse with Mr. Webster, and learned to love him as a brother and revere 
him as a father. He frequently administered the sacraments for me and aided me 
in pastoral visitation ; and I do most thankfully acknowledge my deep indebtedness 
to his example, counsel, and Christian sympathies. In the coal-mining region, 
comprising Carbon and Schuylkill counties and the lower portion of Luzerne, ho 
was well known and much beloved and revered as a father in the gospel ; and it is 
to his long, self-denying labours and watchful oversight that the churches of that 
region owe very much of what they are at present. I believe that the uniform im- 
pression of Mr. Webster in the minds of the people is that of a most sincere, self- 
denying, and devoted servant of Christ, as tender and sympathizing a friend in 
6orrow as ever lived, and, withal, a man of singular acuteness of mind and depth 
of character. I never knew a man with heart so womanly in tenderness, and so 
quick to enter into sympathy and feel with the woes of others. It was one of his 
most prominent and lovely traits, and most of all endeared him to those among 



REV. RICHARD WEBSTER. 27 

whom he laboured as a pastor and evangelist. His words were always full of com- 
fort to the bereaved and afflicted. Although seemingly frail in body and of little 
physical strength, he yet possessed great hardihood, and was in the habit of walk- 
ing distances of miles, in all weather, to fulfil his frequent missionary engage- 
ments. Wherever he went, on these errands of love, preaching formed but a small 
part of his work: * in season and out of season,' from house to house, he 
laboured, — instructing, warning, and tenderly admonishing and beseeching, with 
all meekness, patience, and fidelity. His pastoral visits were very edifying. On 
account of defective hearing, the burden of conversation fell upon himself; but he 
possessed a rare facility in discerning, or learning in some way, the true character 
and circumstances of persons and families, and in adapting his discourse to them. 
I have sometimes seen him plead with tears ; and his manner, tone of voice, and 
expression of countenance, at such times, were very affecting. Unfeigned 
humility, springing from a deep, abiding 6ense of his unworthiness and uuprofit- 
38, was, as all who knew him intimately will testify, one of the most marked 
and beautiful features of our departed brother's character. Although gifted with 
a rare fund of humour and pleasantry, which he freely disbursed among others, 
the habitual seriousness and even sorrowfulness of his countenance clearly 
Bhadowed the depth and intensity of his heart-struggles and experiences. More 
than once, in confidential Christian interchanges with him, he would speak with 
tears of the unfruitfulness of his ministry and the unprofitableness of his 
life. 

"Mr. Webster's preaching — a3 all know who have heard him — was singularly 
earnest, affectionate, and evangelical. 

"Yours, in the gospel, 

"John F. Baker." 

The Rev. ANDREW B. Cross, the brother-in-law and intimate friend 
of Mr. Webster, was called upon, in providence, to preach his funeral 
OOUrse has been printed in pamphlet form • 
ami, fa . d room, the whole of it would have been published 

.••.• to the Bistoxy. The delineations of character are re- 
tnarkably well drawn, and are nol overdrawn. The account of the last 
beloved brother in the Lord is particularly interesting and 
edifying. The reader will tind the whole worthy of his attentive pe- 
rusal : — 

i bare of vim- tats pastor oommenoed twenty-four year 
ther npon <.iir theological studies, and bai continued until liis 
death, in an Intimacy and familiarity whioh rarely happen. Durfa ■ all this period 



28 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF THE 

nothing ever interrupted our friendship. To his life I could bear witness. But I 
am forbidden by his dying direction; and you know, from his humble, modest, diffi- 
dent life, he would not allow me to say any thing which might appear flattery con- 
cerning him. If he were present he would say, Preach plainly and practically to 
the people. 

"What can be more practical than to call upon you to bear witness to his ministry? 
— to call up to your recollection his life, his labours, his prayers among you and for 
you, and to remind you that you are witnesses to these ? Not only you who were 
the members of his church, but the people of this town, of the country arouud, the 
many congregations to which he so often and 60 earnestly preached the gospel, — ye 
all are witnesses. 

"He strove to preach the gospel to every one of you. Instant in season and out 
of season, he warned, exhorted, charged, and comforted you in the spirit and with 
the love of a father. On his death-bed he expressed his anxiety to live to a certain 
hour, that he might see a man who had neglected attending the sanctuary, and to 
beg him to attend, that, if any thing in him had hindered, that cause would now be 
removed. God spared him to see him, and from his dying lips did speak to him. 
Could any thing but the sincerest love for the soul of a man move him at such an 
hour ? And yet this was only an exhibition of the tender and faithful spirit which, 
during his ministry, sought thus to deal faithfully with the souls of his flock, and 
any whom the providence of God placed in his way. 

"While he sought to preach the gospel to every one of you, he did not cease to 
remember every one of you in his prayers before God. I doubt if there be an indi- 
vidual among all his people, or among all his friends, whose particular case, with 
all its attendant difficulties, he has not made the subject of special prayer to God. 
Are there not among you, parents, many parents who do not pray for yourselves 
and your children, on whose behalf he has often wrestled with God, and who have 
been a burden on his heart so great that he has been ready to sink under it? (Read 
his sermon, 'A Word to Fathers,' preached in this church January 8, 1854.) He 
is here no more to preach or to pray. But if you perish, and if your children go 
down to hell, it will be against his warnings, entreaties, and prayers. I mention 
his prayers for you because they were remarkable for their earnestness, particu- 
larity, and tenderness. He seemed to make every case his own for which he was 
praying. In the house of mourning, amid the afflicted and bereaved, he will not 
soon be forgotten. His tender and sympathizing heart led him to seek out such, to 
minister to them the consolation of the gospel. 

"The house of mourning and affliction were never passed when it was in his power 
to visit them. This was not confined to his own congregation, or this town, or the 
churches of your vicinity. His letters of condolence went far and wide, whenever 
the hand of God was laid upon one that he knew. The tenderness of his heart 
towards the afflicted I need not call up to you who have for many years known and 



REV. RICHARD WEBSTER. 29 

felt it. He came as the minister of Jesus, and brought you the consolation of the 
gospel, — the true balm of healing and consolation. 

"You had his whole ministerial life. Ye are witnesses. God also made him a wit- 
ness among you, and his testimony is on record in the high court of our King. 
Soon you will meet him to hear his testimony. I call upon you to-day to remember 
and profit by it. Take heed to it. His voice, which so often warned and testified, 
is now silent. Lay up his instructions in your memories ; meditate upon them. 
May God quicken your consciences to apply them ! Walk with God, and you shall 
meet him with joy before your Father in heaven. 

" Rev. Richard Webster was born at Albany, New York, July 14, 1811 ; was the 
youngest child of Charles R. Webster and Cynthia Steele, of that place ; died at 
Mauch Chunk, Pennsylvania, Thursday morning, June 19, 1856, at a few minutes 
before twelve o'clock, leaving a wife and six children. At his death he wanted only 
twenty-five days of being forty-five years of age. 

" He graduated at Union College in 1829, at Princeton Theological Seminary in 
1834. On leaving the Seminary he designed entering the foreign missionary field, 
and was, on September 2, 1834, designated by the Committee of the American 
Board to the ' Mahratta Mission.' A difficulty delayed his sailing, which gave him 
puiu at the time, but was cleared up satisfactorily and greatly to his honour. God 
had work fur him in another field not less laborious or self-denying, in which he 
was to do much for his Master's glory. He was ordained an evangelist, by the 
Presbytery of Albany, April 29, 1835. He was soon engaged as a missionary at 
South Easton, Pennsylvania, and there commenced a work, which, through many 
changes and difficulties, has grown into the Second Presbyterian Church. From 
this place he extended his labours to Mauch Chunk, thirty-six to forty miles north- 
lii Easton, on the Lehigh River. At this point, a few years before, coal- 
mine- bad been opened: there, and in the vicinity, had collected a population of 
about two thousand persons. He commenced, in 1835, preaching there once a 
month, and missionating in the vicinity. His labours were so successful that, by 
tli>- spring of 1886, there had been a church organized, a lot secured, and part 
of the money promised towards building a church, which was afterwards erected, 
an 1 dedicated February, 1837. He commenced, in April, to preach one-fourth of 
hi- time at Summit Hill, nine miles west ; was installed pastor at Mauch Chunk 
i-:;7. Prom January, 1818, he gave up the other places, and preached 
regularly at Mauch Chunk. P.ut then, us before, ho preached during the week in 
fa adjacent villages, and visited the people. The amount of these labours and 
' lenlal rnnn.it he well estimated bj any one who is not familiar with the 

rapid growth and great asssssits fafrpreaohing in the eoul-regions, embracing parts 
of Berks, Lehigh, Northampton, Lnserne, Colombia, and SohuylkQ] oonntiasi and 
: will* r/hioh be laboured to carry the gospel t" them. 

'•At hi-i InstaOM tin- General Assembly ffii.1 memorialized, and, in May, 18 13, 



30 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF THE 

constituted the Presbytery of Luzerne. The great object of this presbytery was to 
take charge of this missionary-field. By appointment of the Assembly he opened, 
the presbytery with a sermon. He was considered not only the father of the pres- 
bytery, but was looked up to as a father by the ministry and churches in all that 
vicinity. 

" In a letter from one of the oldest members of this presbytery, he remarks that, 
for information and counsel by his brethren, none of our ministers would be missed 
as much, excepting some of the older professors in our seminaries. ' He was a 
model for a member of presbytery,' said another member. 

" His ministerial life was abundant in labours, not sparing himself. Gifted by 
God with great clearness of mind, a wonderful facility in acquiring knowledge, an 
exceedingly tenacious memory, a diligence and application which knew no cessa- 
tion, he was familiar with almost every subject connected with the church : with a 
faculty for, and promptness in, communicating information, he was a most enter- 
taining and instructive companion. 

"Anioug the incidental labours of the years of his ministry was a constant con- 
tribution to the religious press. Few men who were not regularly in the editorial 
chair wrote more. But most of this period he gave the strength of a mind, which 
seemed to have been constituted by God for the work, to gathering up and pre- 
paring for publication what could be found of the early history of the Presbyterian 
church in the United States, and the lives of her early ministers. In the prose- 
cution of this work he became the repository of almost every thing that could be 
collected in connection with them. Since the effort has commenced among the 
churches to prepare histories of their early settlement and organization, he has 
been called upon continually for a history of some church or preacher, and, from 
his generous disposition, he has been taxed with writing almost weekly such 
sketches and histories, many of which have appeared in the historical sermons 
preached and published by pastors. In the histories of the church in different 
States, published within a few years, large contributions have been furnished by 
him, in addition to the numerous articles contributed on this subject to the reli- 
gious press of our own church. 

" The • History of the Presbyterian Church,' to which he had devoted so much 
time and attention, and which has been looked for with so much anxiety, happily 
for the church, had so far reached its completion as to be in readiness for publica- 
tion, and, under the auspices of the Historical Society, was about being placed in 
the printer's hands a few weeks before his decease. 

" He prepared, at the request of the Board of Publication, 'A Digest of the Acts 
of the Assembly,' which is a most valuable book of reference in our church judica- 
tories. 

" The field to which he had given his regular labours for twenty-one years was 
the congregation collected at Mauch Chunk. There he had been greatly blessed in 



REV. RICHARD AVEBSTER. 31 

collecting and gathering into the fold of the Great Shepherd many souls, who -will 
hail him with joy before the throne as their father in the gospel of Christ. The 
congregation had gradually so increased, notwithstanding deaths and the nume- 
rous changes incident to such a population, that persons could not obtain sittings. 
During the past year another lot was procured, and a large, comfortable house, 
of fifty feet long by eighty-five feet wide, has been erected : in a few weeks the 
basement will be in readiness for preaching. 

" He was a most laborious preacher and an indefatigable pastor. Such was his 
promptness and vigilance that no part of his field was neglected or escaped his 
oversight. With his delicate frame, and the heavy calamity of his deafness, it 
was always the wonder of his friends and people how he could perform the amount 
of service which he so regularly rendered. At the same time, while he suffered 
nothing to hinder his preaching to his own people, his labours among his brethren in 
the congregations around were abundant. In a letter, of December, he said, ' Last 
week I preached five times for Brother Irwin at Catasaqua ; last month three times 
for Brother Gaston, besides a Sabbath. In September, I preached ten times for 
my brethren in eight days.' These are specimens of labour extra from his own 
. tad yet he did not seem to feel he was doing any thing. His labours were 
unto thi his first attack, which was severe, he preached twice to hia 

own people. On the last Sabbath, he got out of his bed, and went into the church, 
and preached from the words, 'Enoch walked with God, and he was not; for God 
took him.' As he closed his sermon with the prayer that both pastor and people 
Might BO live that, when they came to die, it might be said of them with truth, they 
had walked with God, many of the congregation thought, and some of them re- 
marked, that lie seemed as if ho was preaching his last sermon. 

" Ee went from his pulpit back to his bed. A week after he had another attack, 
in which lie suffered violent pains and was left greatly prostrate; but his physician 
hoped, under proper treatment, he might recover. 

■ II- was dowii-htairs two or three times on Monday, Juno 16, walked about 

the yard, and wanted to fix a Dumber of little things; took tea with his family. 

i- not so well, lay in bed, hut read the newspapers and letters of cor- 

sTote. On Wednesday afternoon, (18th^)when the papers were 

brought, lie felt so weak that lie told them he did not wish them, and only glanced 

irhiofa bad come. The doctor observed bis pulse was rery rapid and 

■1 concluded to spend the night with him. Ahout twelve o'clock, ho felt 

; '.'. 1 1 i . ■ 1 1 , he asked the doctor if there was any prospect of ini- 

death. 'I Should like tO know if there i-.' Tin- slate was handed, and 

on it was irritten, he 'might live a few hours, i On reading H 

Idea; [ did not expect it: but I I [havenopre- 

bj long ago. I hare renewed it dailj : I am a 

rinner, I hive had my faults; but l have trotted in (herighteousnei i ofnrj l 



32 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF THE 

Saviour ; I throw myself upon him : I trust I have the forgiveness of my God.' ' I 
•wish heartily to forgive every one;' ' give my love to all.' 'I have often admired 
the dying sayings of Samuel Blair and Jonathan Edwards,' repeating them, ' and 
that of John Breckenridge, — God is with me.' 'And it is mine : not a cloud, not a 
fear, — entire trust in my Saviour. I did not expect this ; but thanks be to God for 
such a death! Can it be that it is death? Is not the doctor mistaken? I had no 
such thought.' On the head being shaken to say that there was no mistake, he 
said, ' It is such a death as I never knew of:' ' not a pain, no weakness; my facul- 
ties are all as usual.' ' Thank God, no one could be more kindly dealt with ; it ia 
not only without a terror it comes, but it is sweet : can it be death? I thank God 
my body is not racked with pain, that I have the perfect use of my senses, that I 
was early called to the knowledge of the Saviour, that he permitted me the honour 
of preaching his name. Oh, how I have loved to preach it ! I can bless God, my 
times are in thy hand.' 

"About half-past one o'clock in the morning, he requested that his children 
should be awakened, to see him and bid him farewell, as he might not live until 
daylight. When they came he embraced them, kissed each of them, prayed for 
them, which he did several times. lie gave directions about things of his house 
and family, his funeral, who should preach, his burial, avoiding all show, and men- 
tioned friends to whom he wished letters to be written. He said he would like to 
live for his family and the church ; lamented the vacancies, need of ministers for 
the missionary -fields. ' Oh, how I love the cause of missions !' ' I am comfortable 
It seems impossible that I am drawing near to death. I can well pity the poor 
sinner, drawing near his end, and so little in the circumstances to aid in his pre- 
paration. My voice and words fail me to express the trust I have in God.' 'I 
would like to say to the impenitent, sickness is no time to prepare to meet God ; 
when there is a sinking of all the faculties, it is hard to do any thing, hard to enter 
in at the strait gate, hard to find the narrow way.' ' If this be death, it approaches 
With tender, gentle, loving embrace ; I feel no pain, no apprehension. I look for- 
ward with joy to meeting my Saviour, with perfect calmness of mind, aDd assur- 
ance of the blessing of the Lord upon myself, my wife, my family, my friends, and 
the church of God.' « If I have been deceived all my life, I now come, at the 
eleventh hour, and put my trust in the Saviour, hoping in his mercy, confessing 
my sins, and acknowledging his mercy, which has been with me always. Into thy 
hands I commend my spirit: thou hast redeemed me. His I am, and him I serve.' 
He repeated the hymn, 'Lord, I am thine, entirely thine,' to the line, 'And con- 
secrate to thee my all:' then added, 'Blessed be God, this is not a new work, not a 
thing taken up to-day or yesterday!' 

" Speaking of his people, he said, ' May God be with them! I loved to preach 
the gospel to them; I thank God for permitting me to preach it to one people.' He 
had a horror of pastoral changes. ' He thought he had not been altogether un- 



REV. RICHARD WEBSTER. 33 

faithful, but had come very short' ' How strange the deceitfulness of things! I 
feel that I might get up in a few minutes as well as any of the children.' ' Truly, 
man walketh in a vain show.' 

" Speaking to his family, he said, ' I love you, my wife and children ; I have no 
breath, or I would tell you — but words cannot tell you — how much I love you. 
This is a great trial. How little we expected it yesterday ! How differently wo 
would have spent yesterday and last night if we had known it!' * The cup which 
my Father hath given me, shall I not drink it? Thy will be done. Father, into thy 
bands I commit my spirit.' « Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of 
death, I will fear no evil ; thy rod and stafiF comfort me.' ' I have not been faith- 
ful enough with my children, and yet I have tried in some measure to bring them 
up for God.' ' He has promised to be a Father to the fatherless, a God to the 
widow. How dear is every one of you to me! Oh, how hard to part!' 'I 
would like, when death approaches, for all to leave me but my own family, 
that we may have a calm, quiet, pleasant committing of ourselves into God's 

• He continued to read what was written on the slate until within a few minutes 
before he died, when he told them to put it away, — that he was so weak it was too 
great exertion for him to read. At that time his pulse had ceased in one of his 
and nearly in the other. A very short time before this he said to his wife 
that his hands were cold, and asked her to rub them; and, while she and his oldest 
child were rubbing them, he remarked about his mistake of the coldness. ' lie did 
not think.' • It was death.' And so quietly and gently did he pass away, that 
those around did not perceive it until the doctor said, ' He is gone.' 

" These gathered thoughts from his death-bed have been saved from the many 
things sai'l by him during that period, through the recollection of some that stood 
by him. Very much that he said has escaped. During the morning, when it was 
that he was dying, his room was filled with friends and members of the con- 
si, who wanted to hear the last word or take the last look at one who had 
been identified with them. All his sayings bore the correct, concise, and 
"f bis mind. Without wandering, or wavering, or hesitating, ho 
coittiii'ii'd his utterances as long as his strength pennitted. His tongue had 
y ceased to utter the thought! pi his heart to his people and family until it 
mated With new energy in the presence of his Saviour. 
" Bow glorious and blessed the change! Ho — who for years had not heard 
the sound of his own voice, or of one of his own children, or the voice of the 0On» 
gregatlon to whom ho preached, when they sang praise to God — has awaked amid 
I ]'"'>' of the redeemed^ to tana his harp and lift up his roloe, ami hear the 

Bongs of the redeemed, as they give glory and honour to the Saviour who 
>nd sought to honour on earth* 



34 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF THE 

" ' Oh for the death of those 

Who slumber in the Lord! 

Oh be like theirs my last repose, 

Like theirs my last reward!' 

"Added to the life and labours, you have had the death, of your pastor. A life 
of devotedness to God, — ripened and completed in your midst,— with a calm, quiet, 
peaceful, hopeful, and blessed death. 

" May his death be more blessed to all of you than the labours and example 
of his life have been ! May you, who have been the objects of his prayers, and 
warnings, and entreaties, flee to that Saviour whom he so often, so earnestly, and 
so tenderly besought you to embrace 1 Make him the end of your conversation. 
May God, in his great mercy and grace, give each one of us the wisdom and the 
grace to live the remainder of our days in his service, and, when they are ended, 
may we in peace enter into our rest I" 

The following interesting letter from Mrs. Webster, the respected 
widow of the departed servant of Christ whose life it is my aim to illus- 
trate as fully as possible in a brief space, is here introduced, with the 
advice of some of my personal friends whom I consulted. Although the 
letter was written simply to furnish materials for the compilation of a 
biographical sketch, and not for publication by itself, yet I have assumed 
the responsibility of inserting it entire, for reasons which, I trust, the 
reader will appreciate on a perusal. It was a point of great delicacy; 
and, if I have offended propriety by the course adopted, I throw myself 
upon the indulgence of the public : — 

" Mauch Chunk, July 28, 1856. 
"Rev. C. Van Rensselaer, D.D. : — 

" Dear Sir : — I feel very grateful for your kind letter, and far more indebted to 
you for the interest manifested in regard to my dear husband's book than words 
can express : if there were any way to lessen your care and trouble with it I should 
be very glad to know of it, and would cheerfully incur the additional expense; 
and may I hope that you will do no more personally than is absolutely indis- 
pensable ? The terms of the agreement appear to me fair and liberal : profit I do 
not expect, though I should deeply regret Mr. Wilson losing in any way by it. 

" There appears to be something of an impression that Mr. Webster's great anti- 
quarian tastes, &c, combined with his deafness, rendered him almost unfit for 
other labours. But it is a very great mistake indeed : the business of his life was 
to labour faithfully, earnestly, and amid much fatigue and discouragements, in the 



REV. RICHARD WEBSTER. 35 

Bervice of his Master. Every thing else was subordinate. He had literary and 
antiquarian tastes, but they were gratified only in fragments of time, redeemed, I 
may say, by his unfailing industry. His correspondence was large. He had 
many calls to prepare obituary notices and many other such small things, which 
were promptly attended to. His sessional and presbytery books were carefully 
kept, — the entries of the last meetings all neatly recorded. He was always ready 
to prepare a New Year's Address, &c. ; but his chief work was never neglected. 
He mourned over his deafness, and yet visited as faithfully, embraced every oppor- 
tunity for saying a 'word in season,' and was as welcome and his society as much 
desired as that of any pastor. His preparation for the pulpit was extremely 
careful. He delighted in his work. The time passed unconsciously while in his 
study, — often saying, when sent for to dinner, that he • had not thought the morn- 
ing half spent,' so busy had he been. His rule was to visit every family before 
each communion-season ; and I scarcely remember an instance of social visiting 
that was not closed with prayer. And here suffer me to say, he was peculiarly a 
man of prayer: he did not require solitude, on account of his deafness; the closing 
of his eyes, or the hand placed over them, was enough ; and our little ones often 
slipped out of the room when they saw it, leaving him alone. But not only thus : 
as he attended to his flowers, as he walked the streets, as he travelled, and as he 
often sat in the social circle, hearing nothing, his heart was lifted up in prayer. 
No one can imagine the holy, devotional spirit in which his days were passed. I 
saw and felt it; and almost the only feelings of alarm and fear for his recovery, 
during his illness, proceeded from this very feeling. I saw, as plainly as I saw his 
face, the wonderful growth in spirituality and heavenly-mindedness; and, as I sat 
by his bedside, the thought would come unbidden, ' Has all this manifest growth in 
grace been the preparation for his end?' Many of our people have remarked to 
me, since his death, that they had felt the same. His preaching, especially on 
lay's lecture, had so much of heaven, — so much as though the glories of it 
were already objects of sight, — so much holy joy in dwelling on the glory to be 
revealed, — that, among themselves, several had remarked, they feared their 
minister was soon to finish his work, and, while he and I were looking forward to 
his KOOTBTJ, many of them scarcely ventured to hope for it. At our late com- 
iniininn-seasonH I have almost trembled: ho seemed so nearly done with emblems, 
so nearly drinking of the ' wine new in the kingdom of his Father.' I hope I am 
I for the mercy of such an abundant preparation; but tho loss to myself — 
|0 hi- DOM children — in DOl lessened, Wi li:ive lout his holy example, and his 

prayers, irhioh win; almoal nnnossinfl for as. 

•• ii.- repeated t.. me, after Ida last visit to Philadelphia, y>nr prediction, 
Mailed Incredulously, and, I think, tin.' subjeoi was oerer mentioned by him again, 
dy thought "f, most likely. 

"The Thursday aflat hi- return in- mi taken violently ill. Afu-r a few days ho 



36 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF THE 

rallied, and was able to take short rides in about a week, improving slowly. He 
preached twice between the two severe attacks. From the last he recovered 
slowly; and when from many of his symptoms we feared another, came the sleep- 
lessness, the sinking and the exhaustion, and the end, so unexpected, that it seemed 
hard for either of us to believe that it was death. Again and again I asked the 
doctor if it were not possible he was mistaken. He referred me to the imper- 
ceptible pulse, but added, all else was as new to him as to me. He had seen death 
in many forms, but this differed from all that he had ever imagined. To him, it 
seemed like one preparing for sleep and leaving directions to be attended to during 
the time. He had feared from the first, not from the violence of the disease, but 
from the worn-out state of the system. He considered him the most cheerful and 
patient sick person he ever saw. He was grateful for every attention, perfectly 
satisfied to do what we thought best. 

"The Sabbath was to him ever a delight. He rose earlier than on other days; 
and, oh, how we miss his cheerful greeting on that holy day, — his morning prayer, 
so full of praise and thanksgiving, — the holy cheerfulness that characterized his 
appearance during the interval of worship ; and then, when the labours of the day 
were over, and we sat down, alone, to talk them over, and as I saw the solemnity, 
and especially the mourning over our young people, who seemed so careless, so 
kind, and so attached to him, and yet slighting his message, I have often thought 
that, could those who think the pastor's duties easily performed have seen the 
sickness of heart, the failing of spirit, and almost the giving up of hope, they would 
have changed their opinion. 

" From the commencement of his ministry until about a year since he preached 
regularly three times a day : this past year he has not more than half the time. 

" My brother has fallen — I know not how — into the strange mistake of sup- 
posing that he did not hear his voice. He again and again told me that he did. 
And as to our children, it was their delight to talk to him and ask questions. Our 
voices reached his ear easily. Of course, he lost all general conversation ; but all 
our family matters — all that interested us — was told him as a matter of course. 
I always encouraged it in the children, for his sake as well as theirs ; and none but 
ourselves know the cheerful, sprightly, interesting, and pious spirit which threw 
such a charm around our home, — with what delight he returned, after his frequent 
absences, forgetting the weariness and fatigue in the comfort of being again with 
us ; and, to the very last days of his life, as our boys returned from school, he 
was interested in their lessons and in hearing the little things they had to 
relate. 

" He had his books and papers gathered around his sick-bed; for there he spent 
nearly all the time, on account of weakness. He had sent for ' Dr. Hodge's 
Ephesians:' it came while he was sick. He read it carefully, comparing the notes 
which he had taken when at Princeton. And in bed he copied what is done of 



REV. RICHARD WEBSTER. 37 

President Davies's letters, — wrote letters, even on the Monday before his death, 
relating to a vacancy in our bounds, &c. His Bible was always beside him. He 
requested me, one day, to read some of the closing chapters in 'Alexander's 
•Isaiah,' saying he had just reread them with so much comfort. He said he had 
several sermons all thought out, and only waited for strength to write them. He 
pointed out Isaiah xxxviii. 19 as the first one he wished to preach after his re- 
covery, — having felt in what peril of life he had been, and how his heart over- 
flowed with thankfulness, thinking the danger was past. Hebrews xiii. 7, last 
clause, was another. His interlined Greek Testament was always at hand. 
The word of God was to him an unfailing delight, reading almost with 
rapture. 

M There were none present in that hallowed chamber of death who can do justice 
to the scene. No words can express the holy composure, the strong desire for life, 
the clinging to us with an intensity of affection. He said that words could not 
tell the longing desire to labour for souls, and yet the loveliest spirit of submission, 
all indicating that he was not alone in that hour of trial : — the Everlasting arms 
•were manifestly supporting him ; the sting of death was not there." 

Mr. Rockwood, of Mauch Chunk, was an intimate friend of Mr. 
Webster, and one of the elders of the church. He was present at the 
closing and impressive scene, and has sent an interesting communi- 
cation, which we here publish, giving his impression of Mr. Webster's 
character and labours, and an account of his last hours. 

" Mauch Chunk, August 12, 1856. 
"Rev. Db. C. Van Rensselaer: — 

" lU.v. and Dear Sir: — Friends of our late pastor, Rev. Richard Webster, 

I aiding that you are preparing a ' Biographical Sketch' to accompany his 

miog work, hare requested mo to attempt to give you the impressions 

made by him H a man Hid I nrilrilrtUT at home. While his historical labours 

are widely known, few besides his own people could be fumiliar with his pastoral 

work, as hii brethren in the ministry Mldom miw bin iii the midst of his labours. 

" .My : t ■ ■ i n : i i 1 1 1 : 1 1 1 ■ ■ • - , both .-.•<-i:il and in Ihe eliuivli, lias been intimate for about four 

Iheee were not his most laborious years,— his declining strength baring, of 
mpeiled him to lessen his labour outside of bis own parish. Daring the 

part of his ministry he had been in the habit of performing an amount of e\tr:i 

- in the destitute neighbourhoods, from four to twenty mile- around, whiofa 
ring when his feeble frame i- remembered, and aideh ondonbtedly shorts 

cne.i hi- lite. To these efforts many of the cimiviies of the ooataegion owe their 

origin. Many of il,e,e efforts have heeli made <|iiite beyond tin' linn 



38 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF THE 

' Sabbath-day's journey,' — by holding series of meetings during the week, after 
■which he would return and preach to his own people on the Sabbath. Until 
within about two years past he has had regular preaching-stations, which occu- 
pied nearly every Sabbath afternoon. Many of these preaching-expeditions were* 
made wholly or in part on foot, and often in the night, regardless of the 
injurious effect of the night-air upon his hearing. 

" Mr. Webster's deafness occasioned no aversion to society. He was of a genial, 
pleasant spirit ; and, even since he could be addressed, only through a tube, he was 
affable and easy of approach, even to strangers, — delighting in social intercourse, 
and capable of entertaining with lively anecdote or of instructing by grave 
remark. He was, notwithstanding his difficulty of hearing, faithful in pastoral 
visitation, especially in times of sickness or affliction, when the natural tenderness 
of his feelings enabled him to make the sorrows of others his own, and unite his 
tears with theirs in true sympathy. His depth of feeling on these occasions 
(constantly recurring in a community so liable to accident and sudden death) wore 
seriously on his own strength. Cases of bereavement were feelingly noticed in 
public prayer, and often again remembered on their anniversary another year. 
His conversations with the impenitent were frequent, and his faculty of pleasantly 
introducing pointed, personal appeal was good. Often, where conversation was 
precluded, his pen was used. His general conversation showed that the con- 
version of souls was his most earnest desire, and, while naturally cheerful, 
nothing so saddened him as the fewness of additions to the church from the 
world. He continually mourned that he was not more useful. 

"Mr. Webster's historical researches have been so spoken of as to give the im- 
pression that they formed the labour of his life. They were, however, the result 
of leisure hours, although the amount of these labours (often performed in un- 
selfish regard for the wishes of others applying for information) gives evidence 
of his industrious habits. His life was literally and truly devoted to the ministry. 
His pulpit exercises were uniformly good, and well digested and prepared. 
During the last few years he wrote most of his sermons ; but they were complete 
in his mind before writing, so that the manuscripts showed few alterations. The 
distinguishing feature of his preaching was that he preached Christ, — seldom occu- 
pying the pulpit with discourses merely historical, literary, or critical. His lan- 
guage, while showing no attempt at ornament, was clear, condensed, and often 
beautiful, but never calculated to attract attention from the truth to itself. His 
sermons were earnest, convincing, and instructive, and such as would interest and 
pi-ofit both the learned and the unlearned. The peculiarity of voice — arising 
probably from deafness — was to a stranger unpleasant; but, when the ear had 
become accustomed to it, his delivery was found to be forcible, and the preaching 
grew upon the hearer from year to year. 

" His life and manner were becoming a minister of the gospel, — cheerful, but 
serious and beyond reproach, commanding the confidence alike of the Christian 



REV. RICHARD WEBSTER. o9 

and the worldling. He felt little encouragement in his work ; but his exertions 
and influence have not been without their share — and that a large share — of eftect 
upon the community around him, shown in the increased regard for the Sabbath, 
the sanctuary, and for sacred things. The church originated and fostered by him, 
and now for years self-sustaining and prosperous, is a testimony to his usefulness. 

" Mr. Webster had a great advantage for 6tudy, in a remarkably retentive 
memory, which enabled him to treasure up what he read even casually, and to 
remember clearly his own trains of thought. He once remarked to me that he 
could preach an unwritten sermon, even several years after its first preparation, 
without material change even in the language. He kept himself well informed in 
the religious and other literature of the day, and, both in preaching and con- 
versation, showed a mind thoroughly trained and abundantly stored. 

"Mr. Webster was humble and unselfish in a high degree in his intercourse 
with all. He gained the warm regard especially of those of his congregation 
who were in the more humble walks of life, by the interest he took in their 
welfare. Their children were all known to him by name. Towards the close 
of his life it was noticed that he preached with increased unction, and watched 
with more earnest desire for an increasing religious interest. When confined with 
-. his de-ire to preach was so strong that it was with difficulty that he could 
be induced to forego the attempt; and, on two Sabbaths during his last illness, 
he arose from his bed to preach, and returned from the pulpit directly to his bed. 

"Although his friends greatly feared the result of his sickness, he did not 
appreciate the danger, and, until within a day or two of his death, looked for- 
ward with expectation to an early resumption of his pulpit duties. His vital 
powers failed very gradually for many hours before death. When told, about 
twelve hours before his departure, that he was near death, he could scarcely 
believe it, his feelings having given so little admonition of the decay of nature. 
B« WU taken by surprise, but not unprepared. Without the least perturlmtion 
i bis resignation and entire peace of mind. I was permitted to be 
with him for the last ten or eleven hours, and a greater privilege is seldom 
enjoyed in a lifetime. No written narrative of peaceful death-bed 
gave mo such a realizing sense of the value of a good hope in Christ, and doily 
to God, as a preparation for death. There was not a fear or a. 
doubt His mind was calm and composed, though active and fully awake to his 
: yet all was peace and joyful anticipations for the future for 

himself, and cheerful trust in God for his family and tin- ohureh. Borne of the 

irhioh I have read have always appeared to me as if said 

around ; but, in this instance, the continuous atteranoe 

nt thought was the evident overflowing of a heart stayed on <;.,.i and filled 

with lore for him and his <• ■:■ presaions of resignation, lore to God, and 

eons' lenos in hfan, accompanied by humble self-abasement an I 001 n 

of hiii, would make a valuable chapt.T of religious experience. 



40 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF THE 

" Soon after being informed that he was gradually but steadily sinking, and 
could live but a few hours, he said, ' If this be death, it approaches with tender, 
gentle, loving embrace : I feel no pain and no apprehension. I look forward with 
joy to meeting with my Saviour, — with perfect calmness of mind and assurance 
of the blessing of God upon myself, my wife, my family, my friends, and the 
church of God.' At another time he said, 'lam very comfortable: it seems im- 
possible that I am drawing near to death.' ' My voice and words fail me to ex- 
press the trust I have in God.' 'If I have been deceived all my life, I now come, 
at the eleventh hour, and put my trust in the Saviour, hoping in his mercy, con- 
fessing my sins, and acknowledging his mercy, which has been with me always.' 
•Into thy hands I commend my spirit! Thou hast redeemed me,' repeating the 
hymn, beginning — 

, " 'Lord, I am thine, entirely thine,' 

and ending with 

" ' Thee, my new Master, now I call, 
And consecrate to thee my all.' 

He said, 'Blessed be God! this [consecration] is not a new work; not a thing 
taken up to-day or yesterday.' . . . ' Dying is but going home.' He expressed no 
desire to live except to be useful to the church and to his family. He said, • I 
would have been thankful to be spared to preach. I love to preach. I have 
embraced every opportunity to do so, and have, no doubt, overworked myself.' 
He was thankful that his whole ministry had been among ' one people.' ' I would 
like to say to the impenitent, that sickness is no time to prepare to meet God, 
when the sinking of all the faculties makes it hard to do any thing, — hard to enter 
into the strait gate, — hard to find the narrow way.' ' I had hoped to rise up 
to preach from the words of Hezekiah on his recovery, (Isa. xxxviii. 19,) "The 
living, the living, he shall praise thee, as I do this day: the father to the children 
shall make known thy truth," — the duty of those spared to teach the knowledge 
of God to children.' He * thanked God he had not been altogether unfaithful; but 
had come very far short.' 

"He had no pain: his mind was clear, his sight and voice strong, and he 
seemed unable to realize that he could be dying. He said, ' How strange the 
deceitfulness of things ! I feel as if I might get up, in a few minutes, as well as 
any of the children. Truly, man walketh in a vain show.' 

"With frequent confessions of sin and expressions of his entire trust in saving 
grace alone, he, from time to time, as he supposed the scene was closing, com- 
mitted himself ' to God, to go through the dark valley and shadow of death, but 
not alone.' He spoke but seldom of his own salvation: it seemed to be a subject 
long since committed to God, with the full assurance of faith. His thoughts were 
mainly given to others. His prayers were for his family and the church. 
Several times, as he thought death approaching, he bade each member of his 
family good-by with a most affecting exhibition of love. He had the children, 



REV. RICHARD WEBSTER. 41 

more than once, all brought near, where he could look upon them. He prayed 
that his boys might be permitted to preach the gospel. 

" In the morning, one or two of his congregation came to bid him farewell, and 
it distressed him ; but afterwards he seemed to receive strength from on high to 
sustain him, and he desired to see all. Many of his church and congregation 
came in, for each of whom he had a word in season, and sent messages to the 
absent. Many were mentioned by name, whom he had hoped to see brought 
into the church. He was anxious to see one friend, who lived near but had 
then gone out to his work. He wished to live till noon, when this person would 
return from work, and frequently inquired, 'How late is it?' 'Is it twelve 
o'clock?' His desire was gratified: his friend was sent for. Such was his 
interest for his congregation, each of whom, by name, children and adults, he was 
in the habit of bearing on his heart at the throne of Grace. 

" His faculties were spared to him, so that he continued to converse until 
within a very few minutes of his ceasing to breathe. It was the ' death of the 
righteous;' and none, witnessing it, could fail to wish, 'May my last end be 
like his !' Very respectfully yours, 

" Chaeles G. Rockwood." 

Thus did this good man live and die ! His " works do follow him." 
The seals of his ministry were many, and bright are the jewels in the 
crown of his rejoicing. He lived to a good purpose, and, having ended 
his work, has entered into his rest. 

Among the incidental labours of Mr. "Webster's life is the history 
which is now published. It was written amid the incessant calls of active 
ministerial duties. This is, of itself, a sufficient apology for whatever 
imperfections may be found in the volume. 

.Mr. Webster had a natural taste for historical investigation. His 

_ fur facts and incidents in history and biography was ever fresh 

ami intense. A lover of history has reason to thank God for directing 

hi- pursuits towards a branch of knowledge so grand and useful. It is a 

fit u'lv that brings the mind in contact with Providence; it has relations 

of a wry comprehensive onaraoterj and, while in itself satisfying and 

delightful, it prodnoefl results helpful to the cause of religion and truth. 

Mr. Webster, in devoting a considerable part of his time to historical 

ations, fell that he was engaged in a way likely to benefit his 

Hit testes and desires made history a recreation. Bis 

mind was refreshed by roaming through the by-ways and paths of the 



42 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF THE 

olden time. It was his delight to pursue inquiries relating to the history 
of the Presbyterian church and the men of a former generation. 

Mr. "Webster's patience and alacrity to endure hardship were as con- 
spicuous in historical inquiries as in ministerial labours. Whatever 
he did he tried to do heartily, as unto the Lord. He did not regard 
preaching as for his Master and writing history as for himself. He was 
devoted to Christ in every thing, and hence was willing to bear toil and 
self-denial wherever they were to be encountered. His labours as an 
historian were abundant. W T ho will ever know how many miles were 
travelled, how many letters sent forth and received, how many books con- 
sulted, how many late hours of the night taken from rest, how many 
chambers and old repositories explored with scrupulous care and cunning, 
how much time and health and strength and property taxed, in pro- 
moting the pursuits which he had at heart? It was delightful to find 
this diligent man cheerful in the midst of his labours. He worked at his 
task gladly. His patience was inexhaustible, and his habits of endurance 
extraordinary. He copied with his own pen all that part of the exten- 
sive Bellamy correspondence which threw any light upon the history of 
the Presbyterian church, into a large volume, elegantly written, which is 
in the possession of the Presbyterian Historical Society, — a donation of 
his thoughtful head, untiring hand, and benevolent heart. 

Unaffected modesty marked the character of our Presbyterian his- 
torian. W T ith all his ardour of investigation and success of research, 
Mr. Webster was the last to appreciate his own just claims. He never 
obtruded himself into public notice. No one ever charged him with 
desiring notoriety or public applause. On the contrary, his modesty 
interfered with his merit, and his diffidence prevented an extensive appre- 
ciation of his researches. 

A disinterestedness of spirit is the last trait I shall mention in the 
character of my friend as an historian. Mr. Webster had a large and 
generous soul. He worked not for himself, but for all who chose to avail 
themselves of his labours. Jealousy formed no part of his character. 
He had no private ends to answer. Some might have considered it a 
lawful and proper reserve to keep their manuscripts from the inspection 
of others, but he was ever ready to lend to investigators of history all the 
papers in his possession. Few men, it is believed, showed as great gene- 



REV. RICHARD WEBSTER. 43 

rosity as he in thus allowing others even to anticipate the results of his 
own researches, if they had shown a disposition to do so. His manu- 
scripts have been freely lent in a spirit of disinterested and religious 
scholarship worthy of all praise. 

The last time I saw Mr. Webster was in May, when he came to Phila- 
delphia to attend the anniversary of the " Presbyterian Historical 
Society." He himself was the life of the meeting. He wrote the 
annual report which was read on that occasion, and made several 
speeches full of wit and learning. The appearance of his venerated 
friend, Samuel Hazard, Esq., in the chair, revived some reminiscences 
of a pleasant character; and he told several historical anecdotes with 
great glee, and to the amusement and edification of us all. On the fol- 
lowing morning, when he came to bid me farewell, I asked him to leave 
his manuscript history for publication. He smiled, and said, " I do not 
believe it will ever be published." He, however, left it, and measures 
were about to be taken to put it to press, when the unexpected and 
melancholy tidings of his decease suspended the undertaking for a 



The last will and testament of Mr. "Webster contained the following 
bequest : — 

" To the Rev. Dr. Courtlandt Van Rensselaer I give and bequeath the manuscript 
of my book, and all my historical memoranda." 

Acting under a sense of the responsibility thus imposed upon me, I 
made inquiries respecting the terms on which the history could be pub- 
lished ; and, finding that Mr. Joseph M. Wilson made the most advan- 
U offer, I put the work into his hands. I previously communicated, 
however, with the executors and with judicious friends, and obtained a 
general assent to the arrangement as a just and liberal one. 

And, now that I have finished this brief and imperfect sketch of the 
life and character of the author, I commit the volume, in his name, to 
the public, with the hope and prayer that it may meet every reasonable 
tion, be the means of imparting useful information, assist in 
awakening and in extending the spirit of historical inquiry, and redound 
to the honour of our common religion and to the glory of God. 

C. Van Rensselaer. 

TuiLADELruiA, December 22, 185G. 



INTRODUCTION. 



The great King of Zion has endowed the Presbyterian church 
in the United States with a goodly heritage, and, under his foster- 
ing care, its borders have been widely extended. In the space of 
a century and a half, a cause which at first was represented by a 
few itinerant missionaries, labouring among a number of scattered 
settlers on the shores of the Chesapeake and the adjoining regions, 
has attained to a magnitude unprecedented in the annals of Pres- 
hyterianism. 

For many years past, the Presbyterian church numbers among 
the most valued of her members the descendants of settlers from 
Holland, France, Germany, and other nations of Continental 
Europe. Still, the great body of those hardy pioneers who sought 
a home in the Western world, or who were driven hither by per- 
secution, and founded our Zion, were from Scotland and the North 
of Ireland. It is true, that a large proportion of the English 
Puritans who settled New England held Presbyterian principles, 
and were favourable to our form of church polity. Popularly, the 
term Puritanism, when associated with New England, is under- 
stood to signify Congregationalism ; but the fact, as here stated, 
that many of the English Dissenters, who fled from their native 
land to New England, in order to enjoy liberty of conscience, 
were Presbyterian in sentiment, is established by abundant and 
most satisfactory evidence.* Into the causes which operated in 
producing a graduul change in the character of the early New 
England churches, and which prevented a full development of a 
distinct Presbyterian organization, it is not our object here to 
enter. We desire rather to advert to the circumstances which led 
t<> tin- formation of our church in the Middle States of the 
Tni'-ii; and, in this connection, the few pages of this work 

which can h<- Bpared for an introductory chapter may be de- 
voted to a recital of the causes which led to the settlement of 



* Bo itional History of the Presbyterian Church, dhap. i 

delphia: v.. B. Martta. M 

45 



46 INTRODUCTION. 

the fathers of our Zion in the wildernesses of this continent, — to 
the principles which these hardy sons of a covenanted Reforma- 
tion brought with them to the land of their adoption, — to an ex- 
position of their social characteristics, and their influence in form- 
ing and modifying the religious institutions of our country. We 
can merely glance, as it were, at each of these topics. To treat 
them fully, as their importance merits, would require the compass 
of several volumes, and the command of much antiquarian and 
statistical information, of which, it is to be regretted, that, through 
neglect, much has been already lost. A large portion of valuable 
material for the history of the church might yet be preserved by 
the industry of competent persons, who would collect and arrange 
such facts as are connected with their own districts ; but it is to 
be feared, that the causes which allowed so much information to be 
lost, by the men of the last generation, will continue to operate in 
our own day also. 

Scotland has stood out pre-eminently in modern times as the 
great witness-bearer, among the European nations, for civil and 
religious liberty. In carrying out the reformation of religion in 
the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, the Scottish people dis- 
played an intelligence and an energy of character which contrast 
most favourably with the conduct of the inhabitants of the south- 
ern portion of the island. In England, the heads of the church 
or of the state might overthrow the power and repudiate the doc- 
trines of the Church of Home, as was done in the reigns of 
Henry VIII. and of Edward VI. ; or, as in the reign of Mary, 
they might reverse what had thus been accomplished. In either 
case, a numerous body of the people clung to their national sanc- 
tuaries, and permitted their leaders to effect such changes in the 
formularies of the church as they pleased, without appearing to 
feel that they should have an influential voice in such important 
arrangements, and that there was a divine standard to which an 
appeal in all such matters should be made. In Scotland it was far 
otherwise. There, the people soon comprehended the great truth, 
that the evils under which the country groaned were mainly 
traceable to the tyranny, the rapacity, and the debasing super- 
stitions of the Romish church, which had departed from the prin- 
ciples and order which God had enjoined in his Word. They 
further perceived, that these evils must continue to afflict the 
country, until a thorough reformation was effected in the church, 
and that no church should be considered reformed or pure whose 
doctrines and discipline were not strictly in accordance with the 
revelation which the King of Zion had given, and in which alone 
his will was to be discovered. 

The great doctrine of the Headship of the Lord Jesus Christ 
soon came to be recognised on the north of the Tweed ; while in 



INTRODUCTION. 47 

England, the civil power, in freeing itself from the bondage under 
which it suffered in the palmy days of Romish supremacy, not only 
regained the possession of the civil sword, — which rightfully be- 
longs to civil rulers, — but, at the same time, it reversed its former 
condition. It was not satisfied with securing an independence of 
spiritual control in the affairs which belonged to its own province, 
but it laid the church prostrate, depriving it even of spiritual 
jurisdiction, and trampling it under the foot of the state. In 
Scotland, however, the distinction soon became apparent to the 
public mind, between the province of civil rulers, and the depart- 
ment which belonged to them, as ruling in civil affairs, on the 
one hand ; and the province of spiritual officers, on the other hand, 
who were called to administer the functions of an office, which they 
held from the Lord Jesus Christ, which regarded spiritual things, 
and was instituted for the administration of the affairs of the 
church. Addressing the regent of the kingdom, even as early as 
1571, Erskine, of Dun, says, "There is a spiritual jurisdiction 
and power which God has given under his kirk, and to them that 
bear office therein; and there is a temporal jurisdiction and power 
given of God to kings and civil magistrates. Both the powers are 
of <>"d, and most agree to the fortifying one of the other if they 
be right used. But when the corruption of man enters in, con- 
founding the offices, usurping to himself what he pleases, nothing 

ling the good order appointed of God, then confusion follows 
in all estates. The kirk of God should fortify all lawful power 
and authority that pertains to the civil magistrate, because it is the 
ordinance of God. But if he pass the bounds of his office, and 
enter within the sanctuary of the Lord, meddling with such things 
M appertain to the ministers of God's kirk, then the servants of 

mould withstand his unjust enterprise, for so they are com- 
manded of God."* 

In Germany, the controversies in which the church was engaged 
H re of a different character from those which were raised in Scot- 
land in consequence of the action of the civil power, and the 
of which so rapidly made the people of that land 
familiar with the principles for which they had afterwards to con- 
tend, even to the forfeiture of liberty and life. In France, the 
terrible power of the monarchy, which was used so recklessly in 
the VMi holocaust of St. Bartholomew, effected such an overthrow 
of tin- upholders of the reformed faith, that their cause was merely 

able, for a considerable time, to struggle for existence, without as- 
serting for itself the prerogatives which the nobles and people of 
Scotland demanded for the church of their land. 

That Christ is King in Zion — the only king whose right it is 

* Bannatyno'a Memoirs, pp. 197-204 ; Caldenrood, p. 48. 



48 INTRODUCTION. 

to prescribe what doctrines are to be taught and believed, what 
ordinances are to be observed, and what offices are needful for the 
welfare or the extension of the church — is not only important as 
a correct theological principle, but it is momentous also in the con- 
sequences which flow from it. Whatever the doctrines, the ordi- 
nances, and the offices may be, which Christ has instituted in his 
church, his people have received them from him, to be held as a 
sacred deposit, for the ends for which they have been given. The 
members of the church are not at liberty to surrender these doc- 
trines, to yield up these ordinances, or to change or abolish these 
offices. To do either would constitute a breach of trust, and mani- 
fest a contempt for the privileges with which they were endowed. 
It would indicate a disparagement of the wisdom of the church's 
Head, and would further involve a usurpation of the authority 
with which he alone is clothed. If the members of the church — 
as individuals or in their collective capacity — dare not act in this 
manner without flagrant sin, neither have those who are invested 
with office a similar liberty. They hold their office from Christ, to 
whom they are responsible, and who demands of them that they 
shall be faithful in the administration of all their functions. 
They are not at liberty to increase or to diminish the number of 
the institutions which Christ has appointed. They are not legis- 
lators, to enact new laws, enjoin ordinances or doctrines which are 
not already given by Him whose right it is to rule. Their office is 
executive and declarative, not legislative. And, consequently, 
they are not at liberty — either at the suggestion of their own wis- 
dom, or in order to please any party, within or without the pale 
of the church — to change or surrender what Christ has ordained. 
If speculative men, who are fond of novelty or changes in re- 
ligion, — if worldly men, who dislike holiness of doctrine, — if civil 
rulers, who are ambitious of authority in the household of faith, — 
should suggest or demand any change or surrender of these trusts, 
then the reply of every enlightened and faithful servant must be, 
" These are not ours, but Christ's. They have been committed to 
our hands, to be held for his glory ; to be retained, amid all perils, 
in their integrity, for the ends of their institution, and thus to be 
transmitted to coming ages. It is His prerogative who gave them 
to modify or abrogate them, not ours." 

The Scottish mind soon comprehended this principle. It per- 
meated the masses of the people ; and, under the influence of such 
leaders as Knox, Melville, and Henderson, the professors of the 
reformed faith comprehended their duties as well as their privi- 
leges, and they saw that the one involved the other. 

It is obvious, that an intellectual, energetic, and high-minded 
people, educated in such principles, and thoroughly imbued with 
their influences, would be prepared for resisting all attempts at en- 



INTRODUCTION. 49 

croacliing on their spiritual privileges. Hence the prompt resist- 
ance of the Scottish people to the exercise of arbitrary power, in 
ecclesiastical matters, by Charles I. and Charles II. in Scotland, — 
a resistance as remarkable for the clearness of conception which 
pervaded all ranks of the community regarding the principles 
which were involved, as it was for the tenacity of purpose wnich 
they displayed, and the enormous sacrifices of ease, property, 
liberty, and life which were so freely made during the protracted 
contest. The struggle had commenced in the reign of James ; but, 
when Charles I. succeeded to the throne, it became obvious that 
all the wiles of diplomacy and courtly intrigue, and all the power 
of the secular arm, would be used to abolish presbytery and esta- 
blish prelacy in its stead. There were a few in Scotland who held 
the doctrine, that resistance to the civil magistrate was unlawful 
for Christians — although his rule might be unjust and oppressive — 
so long as he confined his power to mere secular things.* We shall 
have occasion to show that the great majority of the people had 
clearer views on the relation which should subsist between rulers 
and their subjects. Many would have submitted to much that was 
oppressive, with no other kind of opposition than that of remon- 
strance and supplication; while others held more decided views 
on this subject. " But all were compelled to perceive, that the 
king had much more in view than to allow them even the hard 
alternative of obedience or punishment, which, in matters dis- 
tinctly religious, must always subject men to penalties till the civil 
magistrate can be prevailed on to relax his requirements. The 
intention of his majesty, it was easily seen, was positively to com- 
pel them to adopt all those changes in religious worship which he 
might think proper to introduce, and to prohibit absolutely and 
unconditionally those modes of worship which they believed to be 
most accordant with the word and will of God. The alternative 
WM not obedience or the forfeiture of certain civil advantages and 
the infliction of certain temporal penalties, but obedience or im- 
prisonment, exile, and death; or, rather, it was, obey the king, 
though V"U should thereby be disobedient to God. With deep and 
anxious solioitude, they set themselves to the investigation of this 

* The peculiar character of the trials which the people of Scotland had to en- 
counter -".,11 dispelled from their minds any Lingering eloads of darkness on the 
subject of aon-reautanoe and paasive obedience, in England, so long as the Court 
visited Puritan* and Dissenters with pains and penalties, there were many of the 

i u who held most determinedly t" the doom P passive obedienoe. When, 

II. ascended Urn throne, the Episcopalians began I i 
rienoe the application of their own principles, they speedily abandoned them for 
oal and common view which had been maintained by those whom, without 
compunction, they had seen visited with oonfi cation, imprisonment, and oompli- 
- I '• (fume's History of England; Boston: Phillip 
mo, vni. vi. pp. 822 829. klaoeulay's History of England; New York: 
. l2mo, vol. ii. chap, ix. pp. 801 806. 
4 



50 INTRODUCTION. 

momentous question; and, after the most profound and studious 
perusal of eminent divines and jurists, and especially of the Bible, 
they arrived at the conclusion, that a Christian people were en- 
titled to take up arms in defence of their religious liberties against 
any assailant."* 

If is not our province to trace the history of the great struggle 
which was continued during four reigns, and which deluged the 
soil of Scotland with the blood of her martyred heroes. Our 
object is merely to point to the principles which were involved in 
the strife, and to the fact, that these persecutions were mainly 
instrumental in bringing to this country many of the worthy 
fathers and founders of our Zion. Of these, some were igno- 
miniously transported as felons for their attachment to the cause 
of God. They were prayerful and holy men. Their crime, in 
the eye of their oppressors, was, that they would not violate the 
dictates of conscience, and sin against the law of their God. 
Others fled, because they saw no prospect in their own country 
that the ark of the Lord would enjoy a safe resting-place, and 
they sought a region in which they might worship God in peace ; 
while others still, attracted by the prospects which the colonies 
held forth to them, left the homes of their ancestors, and sought 
an asylum in the companionship of those who had borne a good 
testimony and endured much hardness for their Lord and Saviour. 

In Ireland, the causes which produced the remarkable exodus 
of the Presbyterian inhabitants of Ulster to the North American 
colonies, which commenced in the end of the seventeenth century, 
and which has continued to flow with more or less regularity until 
the present time, were different, in some respects, from those 
which prevailed in Scotland. These causes soon began to affect 
the Scottish settlers, who had been induced to occupy the lands 
which fell into the hands of the Crown after the suppression of the 
great rebellion of O'Niell. The settlement, or, as it has been 
called, the "Plantation of Ulster," by settlers from Scotland and 
England, commenced in the reign of James I. This great mea- 
sure was rendered necessary because of the deplorable condition 
to which the northern province had been reduced by the pro- 
tracted wars in the time of Elizabeth. The whole kingdom had 
greatly suffered, but the northern portion had especially been de- 
vastated and reduced to the lowest and most abject condition of 
misery.f 

After the accession of James, arrangements were made to extend 
English laws and customs over the whole of the kingdom. In 



* Hetkerington's History of the Church of Scotland ; third edition, p. 102. 
Vide also Baillie, vol. i. p. 189. 
-j- Leland, vol. ii. p. 410; Cox, vol. ii. p. 3 ; Morrison, vol. ii. pp. 172, 200, 283. ' 



INTRODUCTION. 51 

London, O'Xiell and O'Donnell were received with marks of dis- 
tinguished favour. The former was confirmed in the Earldom of 
Tyrone, and the latter was created Earl of Tyrconnell ; while an 
act of oblivion and indemnity was published under the Great Seal', 
whereby all offences committed before the accession of James were 
pardoned, and never to be called into further question. Most of 
the Irish lords yielded their estates to the Crown, and received 
them back again under an English title. Speedily, however, it 
appeared, that the restraints under which O'Niell and Tyrconnell 
had placed themselves were more than their impetuous spirits 
could brook. Formerly, they had been recognised as masters in 
their own territories, — their will had been received as law ; but 
now they felt that officials were ordained to administer the pro- 
visions of a code which, they perceived with regret and chagrin, 
abridged their power, and divested them of honour in presence of 
their people. Smarting under disappointment, and perhaps dread- 
ing the further interference of the English authorities, which 
they apprehended would prove adverse to the Romish church, as 
well as to their personal dignity, they commenced the arrange- 
ments of a plot, which was never matured, in consequence of the 
[y flight of the two chieftains to the continent. Romish parti- 
sans have laboured most sedulously to show that the charge of a plot 
against the two Northern earls is absurd ; but the authorities on 
which they rely clearly demonstrate that proceedings had been 
commenced, which, had it not been for their speedy departure, 
would have resulted in turbulence and civil war.* 

The flight of Tyrone and Tyrconnell caused their extensive 
estates to revert to the Crown ; and the settlement of these lands, 
With such a population as would promote the arts of peace and 
industry, became a leading object of James's policy. The regu- 
- which the King adopted for the settlement of the lands in 
Ulster were, in many respects, well calculated to secure the 
objects of tin' Government, had they been faithfully carried out 
by the principal "undertakers" among whom the estates were 
divided. In many case8, however, the stipulations assented to by 
th«- undertakers were disregarded, especially in relation to fixed 
and the granting of leases t<> the tenants, who had been 
induced to Bettle on the lands as fanners. Grievances on these 
points were complained "I" finally by Bottlers from England and 
Scotland. In the twelfth article <>[' the " Conditions" on which 
the proprietors reoeived their estates, it was enacted, that " the 
laid undertakers Bhall not dcini.se any part of their lands at will 



: Ireland, toI ii. p. l_; Ungard, rol Ix p. Ml. Dolman'a 
appUment," p. 186, in O'Connor 1 * •• n 



52 INTRODUCTION. 

only, but shall make certain estates for years, for life, in tail, or in 
fee-simple;"* and yet it was found that this important condition, 
so essential to the prosperity of the plantation, was neglected from 
the beginning.f 

During the subsequent history of the Ulster Plantation, the irri- 
tating and depressing influence of this unjust conduct of the under- 
takers continued to produce a plentiful crop of injuries. Tenants 
learned that they were altogether in the hands of their landlords, 
and they felt that they possessed no adequate means of protecting 
themselves from their rapacity and avarice. If they improved 
their holdings, then they might be — and were often — called on to 
pay a higher rent to their landlords, because of their own indus- 
try, which had increased the value of the farms. If they neglected 
to improve their lands, then they suffered from poverty and its at- 
tendant evils. 

On the whole, and notwithstanding these obstacles to improve- 
ment, the province continued to advance in prosperity. Letters 
arrived from Scotland, and they were followed by ministers of the 
gospel, who were encouraged to remove to Ireland by the pros- 
pects of usefulness among their countrymen, as well as by the 
proceedings of the Irish Convocation, in which the learned and 
tolerant Ussher had borne so prominent a part. A remarkable 
revival of religion followed the labours of these devoted servants 
of God, and the cause of divine truth began to prosper in a re- 
markable degree in Ulster. 

No sooner, however, had the inflexible character of the Presby- 
terianism of these faithful ministers been established, and the suc- 
cess become obvious which followed their services, than they were 
called on to encounter the jealousy of Echlin, the Bishop of 
Down, who proceeded, in a short time, to suspend two of their 
number. Through the influence of Ussher, these men were re- 
stored again ; but, soon afterwards, Echlin silenced four other 



* Vide "Confiscation of Ulster," by MacNevin, Dublin and London: 1846, 
p. 135. 

f Complaints on this subject became so loud that, at length, a commission was 
appointed to investigate the state of the Ulster settlement. The returns, as given 
in " Pynnar's Survey," indicate a lamentable state of affairs. No less than 
eighteen of the most extensive undertakers are reported as defaulters in the matter 
of leases. " He hath made no estates," is a common entry. In the cases of others, 
no information could be procured, because of their absence from their properties. 
(Vide "Confiscation of Ulster," pp. 171-195.) The conduct of the London com- 
panies, among whom the county of" Londonderry was divided, appears to have been 
equally negligent. The Grocers', the Ironmongers', the Haberdashers', the Drapers', 
and the Salters' Companies appear to have been most culpable. ( Vide ante, pp. 
221-228.) It is no wonder that Pynnar should state in his report, "that from the 
insecurity of tenure, many of the English tenants did not then plough upon the 
lands, nor use husbandry, because they feared to stock themselves with cattle and 
servants for such labours." 



INTRODUCTION. 53 

brethren, and, accordingly, the whole Scottish settlers were filled 
with alarm and distress. Although the case of these aggrieved 
men was carried up to London, and referred by the King to the 
Lord-Deputy of Ireland, still, they did not receive redress. 
Alarmed at the gloomy state of affairs, and perceiving no ray of 
tight in any part of the horizon, the Ulster Presbyterians directed 
their attention to New England, with the view of removing thither, 
in despair of enjoying either civil or religious liberty at home. In 
the Bpring of 1034, Mr. Livingston, and a layman named William 
"Wallace, were deputed to visit the colony, and select a suitable 
place of settlement. They went to London, and afterwards to 
Plymouth, in furtherance of their instructions ; but subsequently, 
being deterred by various untoward circumstances, they returned 
to Ulster, where they found their brethren prepared to await the 
events which a change, that had taken place in the administration 
of the civil affairs of the kingdom, might produce.* 

Instead, however, of any amelioration in ecclesiastical affairs, 
the appointment of the notorious Wentworth as lord-deputy led to 
an accumulation of grievances which sadly oppressed an already- 
afllieted people. Under the influence of Laud, decided steps were 
token to modify the church in Ireland so/ as to accord with his 
Romanising views. Serious alterations for the worse were made 
in Trinity College in Dublin. Arminianism was openly favoured. 
Bramhallf and Leslie, who proved most bitter and unscrupulous 
tormentors of the Presbyterians, were promoted; and, through 
the efforts of Wentworth, a high-commission court was established 
in Dublin, which enabled the deputy to subject the freedom and 
property of every individual in the kingdom to his control. The 
Presbyterians were soon made to feel the effects of this new 
instrument of tyranny. On the death of Echlin, Leslie was ap- 
pointed to bis see. He immediately signalized himself by the 
MspensioD of five other ministers. And bis intolerance and re- 
lentlesa Beverity hastened the intended voyage to New England ; 
f»r the Presbyterian laity were now thoroughly satisfied that it 
w.is tlnir duty to abandon a country in which their religious privi- 
vere bo flagrantly violated. The affecting incidents of this 
remarkable voyage are well known* and need not be enlarged on 
here. The resseJ which bore so precious a cargo,! after aocom- 



♦ Bdd'l Hi-tory. vol L p. 1 12. 

t Afterwards oalled "The Canterbury oil Ireland," from his teal in imitating 
I. hi I. 

I my, wii" m ebonl to settle in the anoaltrvated mM« of 
■ DJoying liberty of eonsoieuoe, were one hundred and 
i ■ r. kmong Ihem, were Mr. Blair, Mr. Livingston, Mr. Roberl Hamil- 
ton, and Mr. J. .lm MeGeUand, afterward* minister! In Scotland; John Stuart, Pro- 
vost of Ayr, Captain Andrt Charles Campbell, John Sumerrfl, Bngl 



54 INTRODUCTION. 

plishing about two-thirds of the voyage, was arrested by severe 
storms, and, after great suffering by all on board, was provi- 
dentially driven back to Carrickfergus Bay. The ministers, being 
prevented from exercising their offices in Ireland, were compelled 
to flee to Scotland, where they were soon settled in pastoral 
charges. 

From this period until the breaking-out of the Massacre of 
1641, the trials of the Presbyterians were exceedingly oppressive. 
For instance, the Bishop of Down was authorized to arrest, in a 
summary manner, and to imprison during pleasure, the Non-con- 
formists in his diocese. Wentworth, aware that the laity were 
accustomed to maintain an affectionate intercourse with their pas- 
tors who had been banished to Scotland, resolved to abolish the 
practice. By concentrating troops in the northeastern districts, 
he cut off all connection between the kingdoms, and, at the same 
time, alarmed the Scotch, who knew not when he might land these 
forces to aid the King in his efforts against the religious liberties 
of Scotland. In pursuance of his plans for the extermination of 
Presbyterianism, and the prevention of any effort on the part of 
the people to oppose the arbitrary measures of Charles, Wentworth 
now adopted an expedient more intolerable and oppressive than 
any which lie had previously attempted. This was the imposition, 
on the Ulster Scots, of the celebrated Black Oath, — so called, 
because they were compelled to swear, never to oppose any of the 
King's commands, and to abjure all covenants and oaths contrary 
to the tenor of this unconditional engagement. The proceedings 
connected with the enforcement of this ensnaring and illegal mea- 
sure were of the most flagitious character, involving the Presby- 
terians in manifold sufferings. Having tried every expedient 
short of extirpation — oaths, fines, forfeitures, and imprisonment — 
without subduing the Scots, he, at length, conceived the idea of 
banishing them altogether out of the kingdom. The result, had 
he succeeded, would have secured the overthrow of Protestantism 
in Ireland ; for the few scattered Protestants who would have re- 
mained could never have withstood the furious assaults of the 
Romanists in the massacre which took place during the year fol- 
lowing. His object was, by means of intrigue, to procure from 
the Irish Parliament a recommendation to remove the Northern 
Presbyterians, lest they should unite with Argyle and aid him in 
his objects in Scotland, or lest he might invade Ulster, and, by 
their means, effect an insurrection in the North. Happily, when 
Parliament assembled, the state of affairs was such that the project 
was never submitted; and it only remains on record as an evidence 
of his reckless and unfeeling despotism. 

Brown, mritk many families and single persons." (Reid's History, vol. i. chap. iv. 
p. 201.) 



INTRODUCTION. 55 

In the calamitous period of 1641, the Presbyterians suffered 
severely, and many were treacherously and ruthlessly butchered. 
Of the ministers, a number had withdrawn or been banished to 
Scotland, and, on the occasion of the first alarm at the breaking 
out of the storm, a season was given for preparation ere the terrible 
visitation, which swept over the country, had time to reach the 
Scottish settlers. In this way many lives were providentially 
saved. As soon as peace was restored, the cause of Presbyte- 
rianism began to flourish again. The chaplains, who had come 
to Lister with the Scottish regiments which had been drafted 
over to meet the emergency, consented to remain in the country. 
A presbytery was regulaily organized, sessions were formally 
established in many congregations, and the foundations of the 
church were laid broad and deep in the land. A fervent appeal 
to the Assembly, in Edinburgh, was favourably entertained, and 
additional ministers were sent to Ulster. Of these, some had been 
in Ireland before. They were all men of deep piety and fervent 
zeal, and, under their ministrations, the church broke forth on the 
right hand and on the left. In many districts of the country, where 
settlers had languished for the ordinances of religion, churches 
Were formed, and successful efforts were made for the enforcement 
of strict discipline throughout the bounds of the presbytery, in ac- 
cordance with the practice of the parent-church. 

< m the abolition of the monarchy, by the execution of Charles I., 
the Lister Presbyterians found that trials were still in store for 
them; and, although Prelacy had been deprived of its former 
power, they learned that the downfall of their old enemies 
brought them little relief. They occupied a middle position be- 
tween the High-Church Prelatic party, that would have restored 
the monarchy on the principles of non-resistance and passiVe 
obedience, and the Independents and other sectaries, who would 
have destroyed all royal authority in the state, and all settled 
government, whether Episcopal or Presbyterian, in the church. 
Presbyterians were anxious for a constitutional monarchy, 

with proper restraints OD the royal authority, and with adequate 

securities on the subject of religion; while they adhered to the 
1 mi-, and desired the establishmenl of a Presbyterian form 

of government in the church. Accordingly, they did not as-cut, 
to tin ■ policy of the Leaders who represented the authority of Crom- 
well in [reland; and, on his »« n arrival, they continued steadily to 

ite his news. Forthwith, the presbytery was first threatened 
by the army, under Venables, and, subsequently, a considerable 
Dumber of the ministers were imprisoned because they refused be 
swear to an Bffe lgbhent, which would have committed! them to an 
abandonment of their well-known principles. Afterwards, many 
e-t' them, because of the privations which they had to encounter, 



56 INTRODUCTION. 

were compelled to flee to Scotland, while a plan was concocted for 
transporting the remainder of them out of the kingdom. At one 
time, Cromwell designed to remove the leading Presbyterians to 
Munster, the southern province of the island, and a proclamation 
to that effect was made.* Had the measure been carried out, it 
might have produced a powerful effect in ameliorating the con- 
dition of the island, as the North would not have been surren- 
dered by the Scottish population ; and when the influence of that 
people in Ulster is contrasted with the want of energy which has 
been displayed by the Protestants of the South, it is perhaps to 
be regretted that the design of Cromwell was not executed. 

Although Charles II. was fully aware, that the Presbyterians 
laboured with great zeal and success in promoting his restoration, 
yet, having determined on patronizing Prelacy, it would have 
manifested weakness to expect that a man who had no gratitude, 
and who never remembered his benefactors, would interfere to 
deliver his friends from the fresh troubles in which they were in- 
volved by. the return of their old enemies to power. About this 
period it became customary with the gentry, who aimed at com- 
mending themselves to the bishops and their friends in power, to 
exhibit their zeal by inflicting a series of annoyances of an irri- 
tating character on the Presbyterian ministers. Foremost, now, 
among their clerical persecutors, stood the celebrated Jeremy 
Taylor, Bishop of Down and Connor, f who, after citing the breth- 
ren in his diocese to his visitation, proceeded, in the most summary 
fashion, to proclaim thirty-six of their churches vacant. His ex- 
ample was followed by others of the Northern prelates, and, in a 
short time, no less than sixty-one ministers^ were prohibited from 



* Vide Copy of the Proclamation, in Reid, vol. ii. pp. 272-275. 

■J- These references to the arbitrary proceedings of the bishops in Ireland, and to 
the Prelatica! supporters of the despotism of the Stuarts in Scotland, are not made 
.•with a view to create prejudice against Episcopacy. In Scotland there was a 
Leighton, and in Ireland there were Ussher, Bedell, and others, who were tolerant 
and benevolent as well as learned men. The odium of these unjust and tyrannical 
measures belongs to the men and to the spirit of the age in which they lived. In 
Scotland, the Parliament never represented the people. The General Assembly 
was the court in which the popular voice was heard. Hence it came to pass that, 
as the Assembly was opposed to Prelacy, the Scottish bishops threw themselves 
into the arms of the monarch, and sided with his subservient Parliament. They 
sustained the King because he supported them. In Ireland, also, the upholders 
of Episcopacy found that the spread of Presbyterianism would certainly limit 
the powers of the hierarchy, and eventually succeed in abolishing the pecu- 
liar features of the system, if its progress were not arrested ; and they therefore 
lent themselves to sustain the Court against a people whose political views gave 
offence to the monarch. Thus, in Ireland, as well as in Scotland, the bishops saw 
that, as a reward for their services in maintaining the royal authority, the power 
of the civil arm would be extended to sustain themselves. ( Vide Hodge's His- 
tory, p. 59, note.) 

J There were nearly seventy ministers, associated together in presbyteries, at 



INTRODUCTION. 57 

exercising any of their functions in the country. Had they 
merely been deprived of their temporal benefices, they would 
have borne the injury with meekness ; but to be prohibited, under 
pains and penalties, from preaching, baptizing, and ministering, in 
any way, to their flocks, and to see that thus, by one stroke, 
nearly all the ministers of the province were silenced, was to them 
and to their people an inexpressibly severe trial.* 

In process of time, a season of relief was enjoyed again, and a 
goodly number of ministers returned to their charges ; but they 
had scarcely resumed their labours ere they were called on to 
encounter renewed persecutions. Numbers of them were im- 
prisoned. In different districts their churches were closed ; and, 
generally, their worship was interdicted, while the penalties of 
recusancy were inflicted on both ministers and people, by an in- 
tolerant, time-serving, and reckless magistracy. So long did this 
deplorable state of affairs continue, and so severe were the dis- 
ss of the ministers and the members of their charges in the 
counties of Donegal and Derry, that, in the year 1684, the ma- 
jority of the Presbytery of Laggan intimated to their brethren 
in other presbyteries their intention of removing to America, " be- 
came of persecutions and general poverty abounding in those 
parts, and on account of their straits and little or no access to 
their niini.stry."f 

During the reign of James II., the ^Presbyterians, as well as the 
other Protestants of the country, were called on to contend against 
the efforts which were then made to establish Popery in the king- 
dom. Favoured by William III., and even endowed by that 
prince, yet no sooner had Anne ascended the throne than the 
same intolerant High-Church party that had formerly oppressed 
tin-in renewed their assaults. At one time, their annoyances 
arose from embarrassments about the marriages which the lninis- 

this period. <>f those, seven only conformed to Prelacy, and sixty-one remained 
faithful to their principles. Of the small number of ministers in Ulster who were 
DOt Presbyterian, and who had been endowed during Cromwell's time, DO fewer 
tli m < l'-ven appear to have conformed to Prelacy. 

* "Those ministers enjoyed the painful, though honourable, pre-eminence of 
beine; the first to suffer in the three knurl. m-. Hi'- Non-conforinists of England not 
1 ejected till the month of August in the following year, nor the Presbyterians 

• tnd till the subsequent month of < October, 1662. The reasou of the minis- 
ter-, being ejected in Ireland so long before their brethren in the Bhrter kingdom 
Is; — The old form of ehurcii government un<i worship had never been 
abolished by law in Ireland; and therefore, at the Restoration, Prelacy, being 
■tin the legal Establishment, was Immediately recognised and enforced. Both in 
i I an I in Scotland it had been abolished by acta of their respective Parlia- 

nents, and thi nbstituted in room of the Common Prayer Book. It 

therefore, that these aota should be ami repealed, and new 
Parliament passed, before the bishops had power to proceed against those who did 
i. v.. I. ii. p, 860, and oote 16 "n same page.) 

f Prom MS. Minute-, QUOtsd by 1UM, vol. ii. | 



58 INTRODUCTION. 

ters were accustomed to celebrate among their own people. At 
another time, they were assailed because their ministers obeyed 
their presbyteries by preaching in vacant charges ; while the most 
absurd charges of disloyalty were urged against them in virulent 
pamphlets, and often made the subject of legal investigation before 
unscrupulous magistrates. To such lengths were these harsh pro- 
ceedings carried, that a presbytery, which had met for the pur- 
pose of forming a new congregation, were arrested and indicted 
for a riot, while they were sitting peaceably engaged in the 
discharge of their duties, making provision for the spiritual edifi- 
cation of their own members. Add to these trials the compli- 
cated insults and vexations which flowed from the adoption by the 
Government of the "Sacramental Test-Act," an act which, in its 
operation, was most oppressive, and it will not seem strange that, 
at this period, considerable numbers of the Presbyterians began to 
seek relief by emigration to the colonies. In England, the Dis- 
senters enjoyed full security for their religious observances ; but 
in Ireland, and among the Presbyterians, the disabilities created 
by this act extended to all civil and military offices held under the 
Crown. In fact, no Presbyterian could hold any situation in the 
army, the navy, the customs, the excise, or the post-office, in any 
court of law, or officiate as a magistrate, without conforming to the 
Established Church. 

After the accession of the House of Hanover to the throne, 
the Ulster Presbyterians continued to endure many grievances of 
the most mortifying and irritating character, even subsequent to 
the period when their worship was legalized by the "Act of Tole- 
ration." Many of the largest estates were in the hands of Epis- 
copalians, who utterly refused to allow Presbyterian churches to 
be erected on their properties. To enforce conformity, many 
landlords exacted a higher rental from Presbyterians than they 
demanded from their Episcopal tenantry; and, as soon as any 
yielded to this pressure, and joined the Established Church, their 
rents were reduced to a just standard. Though constituting two- 
thirds of the population of Ulster, no gentleman of their com- 
munion could fill the office of magistrate or sheriff, and even their 
teachers had much difficulty in conducting their schools. At 
length, on the accession of George II., such changes occurred in 
many districts of Ulster, that emigration to America began to be 
carried out on a scale far beyond any thing known in the history 
of the province. After the Revolution, and with a view to en- 
courage the agricultural prosperity of the North, many of the 
landholders had given leases to their tenants in conformity with 
the article in the " Condition" to which we have already referred. 
Many of these leases were only for thirty-one years ; and, now 
that they had expired, the landlords took advantage of the 



INTRODUCTION. 59 

tenants, and raised the rents of their holdings to an unwonted 
sum, because of the increased value of the lands, which had been 
improved by the tenants' skill and industry. Add to this the 
annoyance of a proportionate increase of tithe paid to a hier- 
archy and clergy who not only rendered the Presbyterians no 
spiritual benefits in return, but, on the other hand, were their 
most determined oppressors, — and, still further, the distresses 
arising from a number of uncongenial seasons, which produced 
scanty harvests, — and it will not be thought strange that emi- 
gration should be hailed as a boon by any people so unfavourably 
circumstanced. 

Addressing the Secretary of State in England, Archbishop 
Boulter gives a melancholy picture of the condition to which the 
Northern Presbyterians had been reduced. According to his 
statement, a number of agents from the colonies, and masters of 
vessels, aware of the distress which existed and of the dissatis- 
faction which was felt by the people with the administration of 
law. had travelled through the country, pointing out the advan- 

which might be enjoyed by those who would resolve to cross 

Atlantic and seek that peace and prosperity which were 
Offered in an American home. The archbishop also shows that, 
in three years, no less than four thousand tA\o hundred men, 

i. and children had deserted the country, and that, of these, 
ii" less than three thousand one hundred had gone in the summer 
of 1 7_!s.* The wisdom of the Head of the church in all these 
providences is abundantly manifest. Had the Ulster Presbyte- 
rians been permitted to abandon their country at the time when 
Livingston and Wallace were deputed to prepare for carrying 
out the scheme, their numbers were then so few that a small body 
only could have reached the colonies, while it is probable that a, 
weak remnant only, unable to contend with the trials which were 
still to be encountered, would have remained at home. Had the 
voyage of ••The Eagle-Wing" succeeded, a similar result must 
have taken place. Ulster would never, in that case, have become 
the great nursery for our church which it has been for a century 
and a quarter, Bending off the excess of its population from year 

:r to strengthen the cause which had been established on 
this great continent, while the parent-stock, which remained in 

d land, continued to grow and prosper. The church had 

now, however, attained to a considerable magnitude; ami, from 

t It i - time forward, the American colonies presented attractions to 
Ulster Pn byterians which the lapse of time and the occur* 



161. Writing in the spring of m 
I [ng "ii about one U 

I 



60 INTRODUCTION. 

rence of many social changes on both sides of the ocean have not 
served to diminish. The tide which then commenced to flow has 
never ceased to set in the same direction, until, at the present 
time, it is probable that the descendants of the Irish Presbyte- 
rians in the United States are threefold more numerous than the 
whole Presbyterian population now in Ireland.* 

The circumstances here enumerated will account for the fact, 
that a greater number of settlers arrived in this country from 
Scotland than from Ireland during the middle of the seventeenth 
century, and that afterwards this proportion was decidedly re- 
versed, and the majority were supplied from Ireland. The 
troubles in Scotland were mainly terminated by the Revolution 
settlement; but many of the grievances of the Ulster Presbyte- 
rians were only then commencing. In Scotland, the difficulties 
connected with the tenure of land did not exist, while it was 
chiefly after the Revolution that the evils of the landlord system 
in Ireland began to be fully experienced.! These trials were 
endured by the people of Ulster until patience became exhausted ; 
and, as hope died out, the disheartened people began — at first in 
small numbers, and then in greater bodies — to desert their homes. 
Although a goodly number of emigrants had gradually been 
leaving the country for the colonies, and even Makemie and 
others had commenced their labours among the Scotch and 
Ulster settlers before the Revolution, still, it was after that period 
that the great emigration-movement commenced, which, at length, 
attained to such a magnitude that certain leading authorities! in 
Ireland began to dread the removal of the entire Presbyterian 
population of Ulster. § For instance, six thousand Irish are 
reported as having come to this country in 1729, and, before the 
middle of the century, nearly twelve thousand arrived annually 
for several years. || Of these, the greater number arrived in 
Pennsylvania, although many of them afterwards removed to Vir- 
ginia and the Carolinas. At the same time, Charleston had be- 
come a favourite port of arrival for Irish and Scottish settlers, 
many of whom found their way out into the agricultural districts 



* Vide Reid, vol. iii. p. 514, note 55. 

f Many of these evils still exist in different parts of the country, and, for several 
years past, an effort has been made to settle the questions in dispute between the 
landlords and the cultivators of the soil. The measure is popularly known as 
the "Tenant-right" movement. 

% Wodrow's MS. Letters, xx., No. 129. 

| Vide Hodge's History, p. 65 ; Holmes's Annals, vol. ii. p. 123. Holmes says, 
that, "in the first fortnight of 1773, three thousand five hundred passengers ar- 
rived in Pennsylvania from Ireland. In October, a ship arrived from Galway, in 
the North (west) of Ireland, with eighty passengers, and a ship from Belfast, with 
one hundred and seventy passengers." Vol. ii. p. 305. 

|| Proud's History of Pennsylvania, vol. ii. pp. 273-274. 



INTRODUCTION. 61 

of North and South Carolina, and numbers of the remainder con- 
stituted the early settlers of Georgia.* 

The religious views of these founders of our church — whether 
they came from Scotland or from Ireland — were equally decided 
and well known. They steadfastly adhered " to the form of 
sound Avords" laid down in the "Westminster Standards, which they 
held to be the fullest, the clearest, and the most scriptural ex- 
hibition of the truths of revelation which had been drawn up for 
the use of the church in any age. All the influences which had 
been brought to bear on the Scottish population, from the reign 
of James I. till that of William III., had never infected them 
with the leaven of Pelagian or Socinian error. The Moderatism 
which afterwards grew up in the country, and produced such a 
harvest of evil, was a plant of later growth. The seed of this 
Upas-tree was sown at the time of the Revolution settlement, 
when the "compromise" or "comprehension" was assented to, 
which allowed the intruded Prelatists to remain in the parishes 
which they then held in the Scottish church. In Ireland, the 
population were equally Calvinistic and Evangelical. The allure- 
DUentfl of place and power, the fascinations of the national Esta- 
blishment, the tyranny of the Government, the continued perse* 
cations of the hierarchy, and the insolent conduct of the gentry, 
for upwards of a century, were powerless to seduce or to drive 
tlirin from their integrity. The Ulster Scots maintained their 
principles through the storm as well as in the calm, resisting 
alike the minions of the Stuarts during the monarchy, and the 
proffered endowments or the frowns of the officials of Cromwell in 
tin- days of the commonwealth. They could leave the country, but 
they could not abandon their principles. No prelatic forms had 
cr.pt into the system of church government to which they were 
attached, and they were equally free from Arminian views; while 
no elements of Congregationalism had been adopted into their 
discipline. They were as much opposed to Independency, on the 
one band, a- tiny were to Prelacy, on the other; and that form 
of church government which they loved, and for the maintain- 
IMC of which they had testified in days of trial, they brought 
with them to these Bhores. Politically and religiously, thcy 

were in a strait between three parties, and from the enmity 
oh they had to calculate on ill-will ami Buffering, The 

- hated them, as being heretics, and as intruders on a 
."oil which formed the heritage of their fathers. The Prelatists 
trampled apoo them, as a stiff-necked gem ration, because they 

1 to acknowledge tin- lawfulness of the power which the 



i. pp. I'M, 1 11'. 



62 INTRODUCTION. 

heads of the church assumed. And the civil rulers of the day sub- 
jected them to penalties, because they protested against tyranny, 
and demanded the exercise of constitutional power in the state. 

Even as early as 1559 we find Willock — the colleague of Knox 
— propounding to the Convention of Estates,* in Edinburgh, the 
doctrine, " that the power of rulers was limited both by reason 
and by Scripture, and that they might be deprived of it upon 
valid grounds." To these sentiments Knox assented, with certain 
limitations, not of the principle, but merely to guard against pas- 
sion or prejudice being allowed to rule in the practical application 
of the principle in individual cases. The Assembly of 1649 de- 
clared "that, as magistrates and their power are ordained of God, 
so they are, in the exercise thereof, not to walk after their own 
will, but according to the law of equity and righteousness ; that 
a boundless and unlimited power is to be acknowledged in no 
king or magistrate ; and that there is a mutual obligation betwixt 
the king and his people, — each of them is tied to the other for the 
performance of mutual and reciprocal duties." From these posi- 
tions the Scottish people were never driven. To these sentiments, 
and to the principles laid down in the Covenants, both the Scot- 
tish and the Ulster Presbyteriansf adhered during that long war- 
fare, in which they resisted the power of the Stuart dynasty, and 
in which they ultimately triumphed, while the faithless race that 
had oppressed them was hurled from the throne. 

The training through which, in Scotland and Ireland, our 
emigrant fathers had been conducted was admirably adapted to 
constitute them wise and energetic founders of new states. They 
were lovers of liberty, but they respected law ; and it was a por- 
tion of their creed that the office of the civil magistrate is of 
God. Such a people were eminently qualified for establishing and 
maintaining the institutions of a free country. All national asso- 
ciations of men require the influence of a restraining power. An 
atheistical or an immoral people may be controlled by the pre- 

* Vide Hetherington, 3d ed., Edinburgh, p. 25. 

f When the Irish Presbyterians were charged with disloyalty by one of their 
many traducers, in the reign of Anne, their defender, Kirkpatrick, justifies their 
views by an appeal to the principles which placed William III. on the throne. He 
quotes the sentiments of Hoadly as expressing Presbyterian views. Hoadly had 
received the thanks of the House of Commons for his writings ; and Kirkpatrick 
quotes, from the sermon preached by him before the Lord-Mayor of London, the 
following: — "If, therefore, they (t. e. magistrates) use their power, to the hurt 
and prejudice of human society, they act not, in any such instances, by authority 
from God, but contrary to His will. Nor can they, in such instances, be called 
his vicegerents without the highest profaneness : and, therefore, to oppose them 
in such cases cannot be to oppose the authority of God; nay, a. passive non- 
resistance would appear, upon examination, to be a much greater opposition to the 
will of God than the contrary." (Vide Kirkpatrick's "Presbyterian Loyalty," 
Belfast, 1713, p. 4.) 



INTRODUCTION. 63 

sence of a military force which represents and carries out the 
will of an autocrat; but a moral, religious, and educated people, 
among whom the fear of God dwells and the influences of religion 
are in full operation, will require little external force or compul- 
sion to secure the observance of order or obedience to just and 
equitable laws. Their religion and their politics both take hold 
on the sanctions of eternity ; and in their integrity, their obedience 
to law, and their respect for those who rule, it will be seen that 
true religion is the only safe foundation on which the edifice of 
civil society, especially in a republic, can be erected with any 
rational prospect of permanence. 

Such were our emigrant fathers. " Their moral principles 
were derived from the words of Him who lives and abides forever ; 
and the commands of God, and the awful retributions of eternity, 
gave force to these principles, which became a living power and 
a controlling influence. The time has but just passed when the 
schoolmaster from Ireland taught the children of the Valley of 
Virginia and the upper part of the Carolinas as they taught in 
the mother-country, — when the children and youth at school re- 
cited the Assembly's Catechism once a week and read parts of the 
Bible every day. The circle of their instruction was circum- 
scribed ; but the children were taught to speak the truth and 
defend it, to keep a good conscience, and fear God, — the founda- 
tion of good citizens and great men. Wherever they settled in 
America, besides the common schools, they turned their attention 
to high-schools and academies, and to colleges, to educate men 
for all the departments of life, carrying in their emigration the 
deep conviction, that without sound education there could be no 
permanence in religious or civil institutions, or any pure and un- 
Oebaeed enjoyments of domestic life."* 

This work, in the body of which and in the biographical depart- 
ment an attempt is made to record the incidents of the lives of a 
goodly number of those honoured men and to chronicle their 
labours in founding our Zion, will form an enduring monument to 
their intelligence, 1 1 j « -i r- social worth, and their earnest religious 
conviction.-. The seed which they sowed in troublous times, and 
which they watered with their tears, has, under the divine bless- 
ing, grown up a goodly tree, and prospered, until its branches are 
spreading out and overshadowing this fair land ! " The memory 
of the just is blessed." E*t<> j>i-rj>ctua! 

William Blackwood. 

Nabob, 1867. 

* Footc'a Sketches of North Carolina, pp. L22, 128, 



PART I. 



gjistan cal. 



THE 



ptTsbtrviau CJntrcjj in America 



Tin: northern district of Ireland was to the Presbyterians 
itland in the days of James and Charles what New Eng- 
land was to the Puritans, — a refuge from oppression; and the 
intelligence, the integrity, and the prosperity of Ulster is the 
memorial of their wisdom and their piety. There was a time 
when the most judicious ministers thought that they must 
their new homes and lead their brethren to the wild 
3 of America as once they had gone with them to the 
devastated and confiscated fields of Irish rapine. They took 
Wing* to speed them across the ocean ; hut the sea 
Wrought and was tempestuous, and, alter many disasters, they 
abandoned their project. f Bishop Bramhall, in Latin verse, 
derided tie- return of the Puritanical Argo without the golden 
They were not Buffered to come hither; there they 
jo build the church of Godj and he, though not imme- 
diately, yet really, tie- instruments «>t' planting religion in our 
land ; for the individuals who, single-handed, laid the founda- 
of our church, owed to Ulster their birth, and to her 



i; i n: i i'i. byterl to Church la Ireland. 
t Tli- ."ninth- Rutherford wrote, in 1687| to John Stuart, Provoal of Ayr: — 
i n.t bare yon think it strange that your journey t" New England baa got 
it hath indeed made my bear! heavy ; but I know thai it la a i 
dumb providence, bat aipeaking one whereby the Lord apeaka hie mind to yon, 
for I lo not well anderatand what l"- B&ith. However it i--, 

bath shown yon t * i — marvelloui kindnesa in th< 
bear fr..in you, r..r I am anxioua what to do. li I 
fa Kew England I would follow it." 00th Letter ulso. 

6 Go 



66 Webster's history of the 

pastors and faithful teachers the training in knowledge and 
goodness which made them benefactors of this whole nation. 

In 1641, Mr. Castell, the Parson of Cortenhall, published* 
a plan for introducing the gospel into the colonies. It was 
approved by seventy of the Westminster divines, by Alexander 
Henderson and the Scottish Commissioners. But forty years 
passed, and nothing was done by the Establishment or the 
Dissenters. The Church of Scotland at that period, like the 
Church of Ireland, had too many foes, to say nothing of her 
poverty, to attempt the extension of her doctrine and her 
discipline in parts beyond sea. 

But the folly and the cruelty of the Government contributed 
to effect a result which the Church was unable to accomplish. 
As in the Apostolic age persecution led to the disciples being 
scattered abroad throughout Judea and Samaria ; so the oppres- 
sion of men in high places in Britain became the occasion of 
settling the wilds of America with the fathers of our Presby- 
terian Zion. 

Immediately after the battle of Dunbar, the victorious gene- 
ral sent the Scots prisoners by shiploads to the Plantations to 
be sold. A list of those sent in one vessel is preserved in the 
Massachusetts Historical Society's Collections. After the 
Restoration the same method was pursued by the king ; and 
many of those concerned in the risings at Pentland and Both- 
well were consigned to servitude beyond the Atlantic. A 
stream of emigration flowed from the oppressed congrega- 
tions, and Scottish merchants and physicians were found from 
New York to Charleston, and throughout the West Indies. 
Robert Livingston came to New York in 1672f with his 
nephew. He was a son of the venerable minister of Ancrum, 
who was banished to Holland, and whose name is linked in 
honourable remembrance with the signal refreshing at the 
Kirk of Shotts. 

Between 1670 and 1680, Scottish Presbyterians settled on 
the eastern branch of Elizabeth River, near Norfolk, in 
Virginia, and had a minister from Ireland, who died in 
August, 1683. 

In the lower counties of Maryland, on the Eastern Shore, 

* Reprinted in Force's Collections. 

■j- Sedgwick's Life of Governor William Livingston. 



PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH IN AMERICA. 67 

they established themselves, during the persecution in their 
native land. They had meeting-houses* in Snow Hill, Pitt's 
Creek, "Wicomico, Monokin, and Rehoboth, at least twenty 
years before the close of the seventeenth century. Their appli- 
cation is the first that is known to have been made to the British 
churches for a minister. In December, 1680, a letter from 
Colonel Stevensf was laid before Laggan Presbytery, in 
Ireland, to send a minister to the people in Maryland, beside 
Virginia. "J 

The Scottish noblemen and gentlemen who opposed the 
introduction of arbitrary power under the guise of prelacy, 
-ut iv in close eorrespondence with Shaftesbury and other 
leaden of the Country party against the Court. While 
seeking his aid and counsel to effect a political change at 
home, they embarked also in his scheme of settling Carolina. § 
The king Bignified, toward the end of 1682, to his council in 
Scotland, that Sir John Cochran, of Ochiltree, and Sir George 
Campbell, of Ceanock, had been sent up to him as commis- 
sioners about the project, and he recommends the council to 
encourage them. These commissioners contracted with the 
bfde-proprietora of Carolina for a county of thirty-two square 
plat- of twelve thousand acres, with a quit-rent of one penny 
an acre, and engaged to advance ten pounds for each hundred 
acres before October, 1682, and ten thousand pounds besides, 
if necessary for charges. Among the thirty-six "under- 
takers" were the Lords Callender, Cardroas, Haddington, and 
it, with Sir Patrick Hume, ofPolwarth, and the eminent 
lawyer Sir George Lookhart Their agent in London was the 
Rev. Mr. Ferguson, who was constantly engaged in Bcheto.ee 

igainsi the govern at, always detected and never punished, 

; acted and openly charged at the trial of Baillie of 

JemSWOod, that there was no purpose to promote emigration, 

' . ' ly 1 1 i - f < . iv - 

ric-i William Bterena died ■s.'.d i> mber, 1687, aged 67, at lii- residence In 

th, mi. : having been for twenty-two yean a judge of the county oonrt 
nnt on n.ii, and a deputy-lieutenant of the province, 

ibetone, by bVer. J. L OaUniidinghain. | 
H lory of Prei bj teiinn Qhurob in Ireland. 
\ Wodrow. ii. 1686, ■ - 1 ti . - great iin.i good Bar! of OaiwIHa." whose! La I7ett> 
■tautex \--.- e Bootland. Archibald Kennedy, a merchant hi 

• i latex date, having luooeeded to the earldom. 



68 WEBSTER S HISTORY OF THE 

and that it was a cover of the designs which were defeated by the 
discovery of the Rye-house plot and by Monmouth's overthrow. 

After the defeat at Bothwell, the king* allowed the pri- 
soners who made acknowledgment of repentance to be trans- 
ported, and great numbers were banished in the summer of 
1684. Two-and-twenty were sent over to Carolina in one 
ship, principally from Glasgow, Eaglesham, and Eastwood. 
With them sailed William Dunlop, a probationer, and Henry 
Erskine, Lord Cardross, leaving their families. After a 
voyage of great hardship, they reached Charleston in the fall. 
The settlement was at Port Royal, at the mouth of Broad 
River. "The place was sickish;" and as early as 1686, "the 
English were very much off* that plantation of Carolina." 
Adverse, disheartening circumstances caused Cardrossf to go 
over to Holland, and Dunlop returned on the accession of 
William, and was made principal of Glasgow University. 
Scarce a tradition of the enterprise remains. 

Presbyterians from Fifeshire, under the auspices of Colonel 
ftmian Beall,| took up their abode between the Potomac 
and Patuxent, during the time of Scotland's trouble, and 
formed the congregations of Marlborough and Bladensburg. 
Thomas Wilson, § an English Friend, in 1691, coming north, 
after preaching in Virginia and Carolina, was invited to hia 
house by " an ancient, comely man, an elder among the 
Presbyterians," who lent him his boat next morning across 
the Potomac, on his way to Patuxent. 

Scotsmen joined with Penn and others in the purchase 
of the Jerseys. Fair were the terms and wise the consti- 
tution promulgated by the proprietors; numbers removed 
from Scotland to East Jersey, taking many servants with 
them, having received as a gift from the council their 
brethren who could not comply with the outrageous measures 
of the government. Among others who removed was George 
Scot, || of Pitlochie, who had suffered grievously by fine and 
imprisonment for his non-conformity. He was the son of Sir 



* Wodrow. | He was created, on the Revolution, Earl of Buchan. 

J He was a prominent man in the colony in 1689, when he joined in representing 
to the council that there was no ground for suspecting the Papists of a plot. 
MSS. Maryland Hist. Soc- 

\ Friends' Library. || Wodrow. 



PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH IN AMERICA. 69 

John Scot, of Scotstarbet, and a man of large estate. In 1674, 
he, with Beveral gentlemen, appeared before the council, and, 
on their acknowledgment of having been present when John 
Welsh and other "outed" ministers preached, they were fined 
and ordered to lie in prison till payment was made. Pitlo- 
chie's fine was one thousand pounds Scots, — the heaviest of all; 
and for his alleged impertinent and outrageous carriage before 
the council, five hundred merks were added to it. "Would 
they haw taken the oath of supremacy, the fine would have 
been remitted ; they remained in prison till it was paid. 
'• By and attour" all this, he was fined in the next month one 
thousand pounds for harbouring that excellent man, Mr. 
Welsh. After this, he was intercommuned, and, being seized 
for attending conventicles, was sent by the council, February 
v . 1677, to the Bass, and remained prisoner till the beginning 

tober, when ho was released on giving bond to appear 
when called. His wife, the daughter of that eminent 
Christian, William Bigg,* of Aithcrney, not appearing when 
cited by the council, was fined one thousand rnerks for fre- 
qnenting conventicles, and was intercommuned. Pitlochie, 
00 Leaving the Bass, gave security in ten thousand merks that. 
oald confine himself to his own lands, and not keep 
conventicles. He was before the council May 14, 1679, on 
a charge of having violated his engagement; he was ordered 
to pay three thousand merks and confine himself to his own 
lands, the rest of the penalty in the bond being superseded 
u until they see how th<- said (icorge carries in time coming." 
He was fined on the 28d of January following seven hundred 
pounds for nol attending musters and the king's host. In 

he was indicted for treason, rebellion, and favours done 
to rebels; bat, being oul of the kingdom, the prosecution was 
dropped. Re was however, on his return, sent to the Bass. 
lb- petitioned the council to be let out to remove to Mast 
Jersey, promising to take with him his fellow+prisonerj the 

Archibald Biddel, and to be "caution for him" in five 
thousand merks. He was released in the spring of 1684, and 
published an appealt to the Presbyterians, showing them the 
advantages of settling there, especially of having the free 

' loirs. 

I .i.-r-.-v ander tin- ProprlettriM. 



70 WEBSTER'S HISTORY OF THE 

enjoyment of their own mode of worship, which was no longer 
tolerated at home. The appeal was seconded by letters from 
Scotsmen already established there, particularly from James 
Johnston, of Spotswood. Beside Mr. Riddel, the Rev. Wil- 
liam Aisdale accompanied him, but died at sea. The Rev. 
Thomas Patterson,* who had been "outed" from the parish 
of Borthwick by the council, in August, 1662, and who seems 
to have escaped the notice of the persecutors, was expected to 
go also ; but it is not known whether he went. The council 
reconimendedf the king to grant Pitlochie " a gratification," 
in consideration of services rendered by his father, and 
gave him warrant, February 11, 1685, to transport from the 
prisons of Edinburgh, Glasgow, and Stirling, one hundred 
persons who were willing to go, not having landed property 
worth one hundred pounds a year. He petitioned afterwards 
for some of those who had recently been banished, and, oil 
the 7th of August, twelve more were given him. The names 
of over seventy men and of ten or twenty women given him 
are preserved by Wodrow. 

They were, some of them, men of great worth, and had 
already passed through much suifering. At the head, was 
John Frazer, J who, having taken his degree of Master of Arts, 
and gone to London for his safety and preparation for the 
ministry, was seized at a meeting while the Rev. Alexander 
Shiels was preaching. The minister, with Frazer, John 
Foreman, and five others of his hearers, were sent up to 
Scotland, having first lain in Newgate. They were marched 
through London, manacled two-and-two, as criminals. They 
were examined by the council and sent to Dunotter. One 
hundred persons were thrust into a vault under ground, with 
one window which opened to the sea: there, ankle-deep in 
mire, with nothing on which to sit or lie, they were pent up 
through the summer. Frazer, weak and sick, was marched 
on foot to Leith, where a Newcastle ship, Richard Hutton, 
master, was lying to receive him and his companions in tri- 
bulation. Twenty-eight persons left at this time a testimony 
dated August 28, 1685, against their unjust banishment, 
and for the covenants and the preaching of the word in 

* Wodrow. t Ibid - t Ibid. 



PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH IN AMERICA. 71 

fields and houses. Those who could not pay their passage 
were given to Pitlochie, and all the banished were put into 
his care. 

After long delay, the ship sailed, September 5; the pro- 
visions began to putrefy ; malignant fever attacked nearly 
all on board, and swept away twenty-two of the prisoners, 
with most of the crew. Pitlochie and his excellent lady died, 
with their sister-in-law, Lady Aitherney and her son and 
daughter, and the wife of Mr. Riddel. The captain was 
inhuman beyond measure. Upwards of sixty died, many of 
whom were voluntary exiles for the word of God. 

They reached iSew Jersey about the middle of December. 
The people on the coast showed them no kindness; but 
>% ;t town* a little way up the country sent horses for the 
feeble, and entertained all of them till the spring." Pitlochie 
had Bold what remained of his estate to pay the freight, and, 
dying, he gave the prisoners to his son-in-law, Mr. John 
Johnston. They resisted his claim; and the governor, on 
hearing both parties, summoned a jury, whose verdict was, 
that, not having of their own accord come in that ship, nor 
bargained with Pitlochie for money or service, they were free. 
Afost of them went to New England, and wore kindly enter- 
tained. 

Frazer was ordainedf in Hartford county, Connecticut, and 
preached at Woodbury. His labours were blessed ; but on the 
accession of William, he returned with his wife to Scotland, 
and became the minister of Alness. His son was the author 
pf the admirable work on Sanetin'cation. 

Among the voluntary exiles was Robert McLellan, of Bal- 

magechan. He had been forfeited in lb'SO. He made his 
home at Woodbridge; and on the revolution, in Betuming 

Id Scotland, was captured by the ETrengh, and, oft being 
released, he waa shipwrecked on the Eriflh coast, lie reached 
home at last, and was reinstated in his Lands. 

Another was William Niven, of PolLockshows ; tike MoLel- 
lan, honourable and excellent, lie also returned, 

The Rev. Archibald Riddel had a sail to a con gregatio n on 

[lODg Island; but he preferred to settle at Woodhridirc. He 
» Wodrow. f I'r. ; | on S:nu-iiliaition. 



72 WEBSTER'S HISTORY OF THE 

also returned,* suffering, by-the-way, years of imprisonment in 
France. He was the brother of the Laird of Kiddel, in Rox- 
burghshire, — a heavy sufferer for conscience. In the summer 
of 1677, he joined, with Mr. Welsh and other " outed" ministers, 
in dispensing the sacrament at Maybole, in Carrick. Search 
was ordered to be made for him after Both well ; and proclama- 
tion was made, June 26, 1679, against harbouring or resetting 
him. In September, 1680, he was seized while riding from 
Moffat-well, and imprisoned; he demanded to be tried for his 
accession to the rising. He would not engage to abstain from 
field-preaching ; and, not being able to find security, he was 
left seven months in Edinburgh prison and three years and a 
half in the Bass. He was liberated in the spring of 1681 to 
see his dying mother,! and in June was again sent to the Bass 
for holding a conventicle at Kippen. There he remained till 
he sailed for America. 

Among the prisoners were John Foreman, John Henderson, 
John Foord, — names still familiar in Freehold. These ban- 
ished men formed a large part of our early congregations in 
East Jersey. 

Colonel Barclay, of Urie, was, like Pitlochie, concerned in 
the shipment of prisoners. He had twenty-three given him 
at one time. He settled at Amboy, and, though nearly 
related to the great Quaker apologist, was a churchman. 

"That excellent person," Lord Neil Campbell, the son of 
the Marquis of Argyle, and the brother of the earl, was not 
suffered, after 1681, to live in his own house; and, having 
refused the test, he was forced to go to America at hazard of 
life, leaving his family behind. He returned on the downfall 
of the Stuarts. 

The Rev. David Simpson, minister of Killean, was, after 
the indulgence, placed by the council at Kintyre. He was 
imprisoned, but liberated March 17, 1685, on condition of 
leaving the kingdom. He went to New Jersey and died there. 

In the parish of Dalserf, in Lanarkshire, the curate, Mr. 
Joseph Clelland, was very active against non-conformists. 

* His daughter, Mrs. James Dundas, remained here. — W. A. Whitehead, Esq., 
of Newark. 

f She had been denounced as a rebel while a widow. Her husband had been 
heavily fined. — Wodrow. 



PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH IN AMERICA. 73 

Many families were scattered. John Harvie and Walter Ker 
were seized. The former was given to Pitlochie. The latter 
was banished September 3, 1685 ; he settled in Freehold, 
greatly serviceable in promoting the interests of religion, 
and lived till 1744 to witness the great awakening. The Rev. 
Dr. Ker, of Goshen, New York, and the Eev. Jacob Ker, of 
Somerset, Maryland, were his grandsons. 

Mr. Hume,* living near Paisley, a man of property and 

lability, was imprisoned for his zeal as a Whig, and 

released on condition of removing to America. A contagious 

carried off himself and his wife while at sea in a 

ded vessel. His only child, a daughter of fifteen, was 

kindly received by her mother's brother, Dr. Johnson, of 

fork. Bhe married AVilliam Hoge, an exile for Christ's 

Bake: they settled at Amboy. Their son was the Rev. John 

. of < )[pe4iihou, Virginia, and their grandson the Rev. Dr. 

Moses II - 

Little companies of Scotsmen, driven from home by brutal 
oppression, were scattered through East Jersey, Delaware, 
and along Fork and Rappahannock, in Virginia. f There was 
a large emigration to Charleston. 

The closing of the seventeenth century was marked by the 
subsiding of the flood of religious feeling which had so power- 
fully for three generations agitated Great Britain. 

The turbid waves were almost at rest, and the atoms lately 
tossing on the top of the billows were precipitated as from 
a chemical Bolution, and gradually congealed and stratified in 
forma and masses as distind and unchangeable as the second- 
ary and tertiary formations <•(' our globe. 

A rimilar tendency to assume and adhere to distinctive 
forma and denominational peculiarities was displayed in this 

Dutch Reformed congregations, surrounded in the 

r towns by an English population, and living under a 

timenl which favoured the sole use of the English 

tongue, abated do! one joi of their tenacity for the exclusive 

• Di m t B 
+ Dr. n. •in.-. bop of London, mi born of paranti >">tii nattrOt <,f 

Virginia, hii grandparanti baring ramorad Bran Newbottla, tin- pai 

L«ighton, to York Kivcr, wiicro "it was at least two miles ov.r. ' 



74 Webster's history of the 

use of Low Dutch in their religious services. The necessity 
thus created favoured the introduction of the Church of Eng- 
land ; and Trinity Church, New York, increased rapidly in 
numbers, through the falling off of the young people from the 
language and the Church of Holland. The Livingstons and 
some other Scotsmen adhered to the Reformed Dutch church, 
though barely able to follow the preacher through the mazes 
of a strange language. 

The Society of Friends, shaken by the rupture with Keith, 
and constantly roused by the earnest appeals of ministers 
from England, was in the process of crystallization. Vital 
heat departed and left the beautiful transparent forms sub- 
sisting till now. 

The Ranters — a portion of the gangrene which consumed 
the cause of truth and godliness in Cromwell's day — still 
claimed to possess divine attributes and to be able to do 
actions inconceivably vile without incurring guilt. They still 
intruded on the worship of others, hooting like owls, dancing 
and defaming ; but they were almost extinct, and in a few 
years no trace and scarcely a remembrance of them remained 
in Rhode Island, at Oyster Bay, and Mattinecock, Long Island, 
or in Middletown, New Jersey, where once they were in 
admiration.* 

A community existed near Chester, f Maryland, formed on 
the model devised by John Labadie, who died in 1674. 
Samuel Bownas visited "the Labadies" in 1702. When 
supper came in, twenty men entered a large room at a call ; 

* Friends' Library. 

■j- Bownas's Journal, in Friends' Library. Mr. Ward wrote, September 15, 
1666, to his fellow-exile, John Brown, of Wamphray: — "If worthy Labadie come 
to see you, (for the French Synod have begun to persecute him already, and have 
summoned him to appear at Amsterdam to answer to a commission that they have 
appointed to question him about some things ; they pretend he favours the Mil- 
lianary opinions ; but, the truth is, they cannot bear his zeal for God ;) if he come, 
I say, be very kind to him, and ye may think, if it were not fit, having him dine 
with you. I am much taken with the man, for the great report he hath of pietie, 
zeal, and learning, and for which he is in repute among all the godly who know 
him." John de Labadie had been a Jesuit, and entered the Reformed church. 
William Penn visited at Weiwart, in Holland, a religious society which had been 
awakened by him to seek after a more spiritual fellowship, and had followed him 
in the way of a refined Independency. The Brownists also held Labadie in high 
esteem. 



PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH IX AMERICA. 75 

sitting down, one after another took off his hat, and, after a 
11 of silence, one after another put on his hat and 
: to eat. The women ate by themselves. They had all 
things in common, but could take nothing when they went 
away. They were in all about one hundred. They made 
Linen, and had a plantation of corn, tobacco, and flax, besides 
pinch cattle. But as early as 1720 they were all scattered. 
They were probably from Xorth Holland. 

"The Labadeans* were correct on the subject of justifica- 
tion." Whitefield said, "John Labidee went on in the 
same manner as the Moravians, in Maryland. His plan was 
carried as high as theirs; but it fell remarkably." 

Xcw England saw a form of delusion in the followers of 
Bank- and Case.* Many under their influence fell down as 
in a tit. and rose up crying, " Oh, the joy !" " Many now living 
haw not forgot tin.- mad freaks of the infamous Case and 
Banks, with their followers. Who could have a stronger per- 
BOaaioi of their interest in Christ than they had? How did they 
lently go about the streets in a kind of rapture, crying, 
•.I..V. joy !' "t They were like those in Scripture whose "sins 
open beforehand, going to judgment." They went, in the 
spring of ln'.i'.i, into Xew Jersey and Pennsylvania, then ealled 
k - the new country," and, after a season, came to naught. 

The attempt made by Massachusetts to send the gospel to 
Virginia, in L643, was promptly crushed by the banishment 
of the ministers and the expulsion of the congregations. The 
homeless people established themselves on the western shore 
of Maryland, in Anne Arundel, and the adjacent counties of 
Charles and Prince ( leorge. 

The Rev. Matthew Hill. I ejected from Think, in Yorkshire, 

by the Uniformity Act, settled in Charles county in lii~4. 

The prospect of usefulness was encouraging al lirst ; but new 

tronbl and his hopes were blighted. Those driven 

from STansemondS retired to North Carolina; and Duraot's 

in Perquimans county, perpetuates the name of "the 

elder of that orthodox congregation." His < leneva Bible 

erved by the Historical Society of North Carolina. 



+ DloUnson'i Display ofSomreign One* 

J Calamy's M.in-.rials. -.,,-, qnfiiii by Duncroft. 



76 Webster's history of the 

The New Haven colonies in West Jersey seem to have 
remained without stated ministers till the close of the cen- 
tury, when the Rev. Thomas Bridge, from England, settled 
at Cohanzy. 

The Puritan settlements on Long Island were early sup- 
plied with ministers. These were East Hampton, South- 
ampton, Southold, Setauket in Brookhaven, Hempstead, 
Jamaica, and Newtown ; even Flushing* also, before 1657, 
had a Presbyterian minister who went to Eastern Virginia. 

In West Chester county, New York, Bedford and East 
Chester had a minister from Connecticut. 

In East Jersey were the congregations of Elizabethtown, 
Newark, Woodbriclge, and Freehold. The minister at New- 
arkf was the only one who did not have recourse to some 
other calling for maintenance. 

The French churches in the province of New York gra- 
dually merged in part in the Reformed Dutch body ; a 
portion received missionaries from the Gospel Propagation 
Society, and laid aside their distinct character for the Epis- 
copal form. 

The few Swede churches, of the discipline of Augsburg, 
retained their separate existence till of late years they have 
come under the jurisdiction of the Bishops of New Jersey, 
Pennsylvania, and Delaware. 

In the province of New York there was, before 1699, but 
one Church minister except the chaplains of the forces ; none 
in the Jerseys or Delaware, and but one in Pennsylvania. 
Trinity Church was erected in New York in 1696 ; and Mr. 
Vesey, formerly an Independent minister in Queen's county, 
Long Island, celebrated divine service for the first time, Feb- 
ruary 6, 1697. Christ Church was erected in Philadelphia 
in 1695, and was served by Dr. Clayton, Rector of Crofton, in 
Yorkshire, and afterward by Mr. Evans. In 1700, prayer- 
books were given "as fine as those in the queen's chapel." 
In Maryland and Virginia, there was provision by the statute 
for the clergy, and the parishes were mostly supplied. In 
North Carolina there were no ministers of any persuasion but 
those of the Society of Friends. 

* O'Callaghan's New York. f Whitehead's East Jersey. 



PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH IX AMERICA. 77 

In South Carolina, there were Congregationalists from .New 
England, and Scottish Presbyterians. They were so much 
mingled in Charleston that, while the church was independent 
in its government, its ministers, for twenty years, were of the 
Church of Scotland. 

There was a Baptist congregation and several French 
churches; yet, in 1704, when there was but one Episcopal 
congregation, the Church of England was established by law, 
and her sacramental test enacted. 

There were Baptist congregations from Ireland in Middle- 
town, Cohanzy, and Cape May, in New Jersey; there were 
congregations from New England, at Piscataway and Cohanzy, 
Dot in fellowship with the other churches of that order in the 
province. In Pennsylvania there was a Welsh Baptist mi- 
ni-Kr serving Penuepek and Philadelphia. In Delaware 
there was a minister with his nock, at Pencader, from the 
principality of Wales. 

In Philadelphia, a Presbyterian congregation was slowly 
formed during the last ten years of the century. It is highly 
probable that the visit of Francis Makemie to the city in 1692 
led to the gathering cf the Protestant dissenters for worship 
ut the l;arbadi>cs store. Jedediah Andrews, from Massachu- 
began to preaeh statedly to them in the autumn of 1698. 

F ram-is Makemie came to Maryland in 1G82, and spent one 
Or two years as the minister in Lynnhavcn parish, Virginia, 
lh subsequently fixed his abode in Accomac county, and in 
1699 took license under the Toleration Act. The ministers 
of Laggan Presbytery* intimated to the other presbyteries in 
Ireland, in 1684, their intention to remove to America, (some 
of them having been invited thither,) the course of "the Pre- 
kationa] party" being bo vexatious; but a favourable turn of 
■flairs detained them in I flster. 

The only other Presbyterian ministers known to have been 
in any besides the New England States at an earlier date than 
1706 are Nathaniel Taylor, al Marlborough, Maryland; Dugald 
i, ut Brookhaven, ob Long [sland, from L685 to 1691, 
wh<> returned to Scotland, and was, in 1696, a member of 
Lochmaben Presbytery; Thomas Bridge, who was called from 

]■.• 



78 Webster's history of the 

Cohanzy to the first church in Boston, in 1704 ; Mr. Black, 
who laboured in West Jersey and in Lewes, Delaware ; John 
"Wilson at Newcastle, and Samuel Davis, also in Delaware. 

The state of morals was generally good, the people sober 
and "not over-zealous." 

Liberty of worship existed in every province. Virginia was 
no exception ; for Makemie in no instance complains of ill- 
usage or molestation, and, in his "Plain and Loving Persuasive 
to the Inhabitants of Maryland and Virginia," published in 
1705, he clearly assumes that intolerance was not the order of 
the day. The New York law of 1693, dividing the provinces 
into parishes and precincts, and directing assessments of a 
rate for the support of the ministry, was purposely* worded 
indefinitely, so as not to awaken a suspicion in the minds of 
the majority of the Assembly of intention to secure the com- 
pulsory maintenance of the Episcopal clergy. There was then 
not one Church-of-England congregation in the province, and 
the only churchman in the Assembly was James Graham e J the 
speaker. The vestry of Trinity Churchf having inquired, in 
1695, if by "able Protestant minister" was to be understood a 
Dissenting minister, the Assembly declared that under the act 
any congregation might call and settle a Protestant Dissenting 
minister. Governor Fletcher denied their right to put such 
an interpretation on the words ; but it is not known that he 
refused, in any instance, to order the induction of a Dissenter 
when regularly chosen by the people. Increase Mather, seeing 
provision made for support of the gospel, induced Mr. Vesey, 
who was| labouring on Long Island, to go to the city of New 
York and serve the spiritual interest there. Governor Fletcher 
is said§ to have bought him off. He sailed for England, and, 
obtaining orders, was inducted|| Rector of Trinity Church by 
the two Dutch Reformed divines. 



* Colonel Morris, quoted in Macdonald's Hist, of Jamaica, 

•J- Proceedings of New York Assembly. 

X The Rev. Mr. Miller ; reprinted in N. Y. Hist. Soc. Coll 

I Doc. Hist, of New York. 

II Dr. Brownlee's Sketch of History of Reformed Dutch Church in America. 



PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH IN AMERICA. 79 



CHAPTER n. 

The eighteenth century opened with the accession of Anne, 
ami the restoration to favour of the patrons of High-Churchisni 
ami the enemies of the liberty of the subject- 
New Jersey passed from under the control of the pro- 
prietaries, and was united by the crown with the province of 
New York, under the government of the Queen's cousin, 
Edward Hyde, Viscount Cornbury. He was the grandson of 
Clarendon, the historian. Lacking his talents and his grave 
dignity of manner, he was the inheritor* of his rapacious, 
despotic principles. Clarendon, when he knew Charles the 
Second to be a Papist, made it felony for any man to say so; 
while persecuting the non-confunnists without limit or mercy, 
he protected the chief instruments of the great rebellion, who 
could purchase his favour by gifts of money, or of the por- 
traits of the noble families they had despoiled in the civil war. 
Destitute of honourable feeling, he made his history a vehicle 
Of calumny. He was displaced by men as worthless as himself, 
and died in exile. 

Cornbury was a spendthrift, transported to the Plantations 
t'> save him from his creditors. He at oner assumed to be the 
patron of tin- church, ami required all congregations to apply 
to him for leave to settle ministers. The sect of the Bero- 

diane existed a! that day; they knew no king but Cesar: and 
loud were their professions of zeal for the Church of England, 
m»w thai seal foT her was the passport to favour. 

In 1701, the Church partyf in Pennsylvania refused to sign 
a paper clearing Penn's government of the charge of persecu- 
tion. In 1708, they, with a packed vestry headed by John 
Bloore, waited on Lord Cornbury, and, among many compli- 
ments, hoped they should prevail on the Queen to extend the 

* LOO toa on Claren 1 f Wat^.n'* Annul* of PhUaddpfaiA, 



80 Webster's history of the 

limits of his government over them, that so "they may enjoy 
the same blessings others do under his authority." Cornbury 
came again to Philadelphia. Colonel Robert Quarry headed 
the address, and asked him to beseech the Queen to grant 
them this favour. William Penn was offended at these turbu- 
lent churchmen, and asked the Lords of Trade either to buy 
him out, or to let him buy out "the hot Church party." 

Colonel Quarry, an officer in the customs, was a zealous 
churchman, and indefatigable in ferreting out causes of com- 
plaint against the colonial assemblies and the governors who 
were not of his temper and notions. His letters in the Brod- 
head collection in Albany unveil his exertions for the esta- 
blishment of thorough despotism. 

The chief instigator of all these movements was George 
Keith, born in Scotland in 1638, and a graduate of Aberdeen 
in the class with Burnet, Bishop of Salisbury. A prominent 
minister in the Society of Friends, he was disowned, in Phila- 
delphia, as a disturber. Failing in his attempts to form a sect 
embodying the differences for which he contended, he took 
orders in England; and his efforts in America, from New 
Hampshire to Currituck, entitle him to the credit of being the 
apostle of Prelacy, and the successful founder of the English 
church on a permanent basis along the sea-coast. 

The appointment of a bishop for Virginia was resolved on 
in the reign of Charles the Second. The revenues of the see 
were to be drawn from the customs;* but there were so many 
other less sacred but more fascinating persons to be supported 
out of that branch of royal income, that the scheme was 
abandoned. Fears of the establishment of Episcopacy, and 
of compulsory enforcement of conformity to human appoint- 
ments in divine things, arose in the colonies soon after Sir 
Robert Carrf entered on his government. The conduct of 
Colonel Fletcher in New York, in assuming the right to fur- 
nish the towns with ministers of his own choosing, gave new 
uneasiness. The Venerable Society for Propagating the 
Gospel in Foreign Parts was incorporated in 1701; with royal 
favour, large funds, and a strong array of zeal and political 

* Seeker's letter to Walpole. The scheme failed through the resignation of 
Clarendon. 

f MS. letter in Massachusetts Historical Society. 



PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH IN AMERICA. 81 

influence, it commenced vigorous operations. The amazing 
proposal was made by Colonel Morris,* a pupil of Keith's, 
that the society should sec that only churchmen were sent out 
as governors of the colonies, and should endeavour to have 
the rule introduced, that no person should he competent to 
receive a considerable benefice in England, who had not per- 
formed three years of missionary labour in America. Colonel 
Heathcotef wrote to the Venerable Society, that as carl}* as 
November, 1705, it was reported that the Queen would main- 
tain from lur own purse a suffragan bishop in America. He 
felt no doubt that, when this was done, many educated at 
Boston College would conform and be content to take the 
■ it secured by law, without being burdensome to the 
•ociety. 

This report gained so much confidence that Mr. John Lil- 

r of St. Paul's, in Talbot count}*, and senior 

man in Maryland, who was judged the fittest person, J 

tit to Great Britain to be in readiness for consecration. 

Perhaps the chief hinderance to the consummation of the 

project was. that the clergy here and at home were mostly 

attached to the Jacobite cause; and that the Scots here, as well 

M in their native land, were greatly embittered against the 

government, by reason of the union of the kingdoms. As 

Dr. Chaunceyg said to President Stiles, "The ministry regard 

mere tools; but they are edge-tools, and they use 

them only when there is a needs-be." The scheme, however, 

m fool ; for the Bishop of London|| addressed the Queen's 

Council in December, 1707, urging that the appointment of a 

suffragan in Virginia would excite no clamour, and for the 

want of no.-, bigamy and all other evils infested the provinces 

and grew apace. Archbishop Becker wrote an appeal in I7o0 

in favour of sending n bishop to Virginia.^ Dlt Johnson, of 
King's College, New York, applauded the good design, There 

QUCh talk in London of the matter, when the death of 



i.s of tin- English Church. 
f Bolton's History of Weal Chester County, Ren York. J Hawkins. 

I s< || Albany Documents. 

fl Sock> r'» letter, end • eritietJ commentary oo it, ere -.. curious and Ulu 
of the tfanee ■ . • printing together. The critical eonuMntary i* iu tLo 

Re/V York State Library. 





82 Webster's history of the 

Mr. Henry Pelharn threw this, with many other schemes, out 
of mind. Dr. Stennet related to Davies, in 1753, "a confer- 
ence he had with the Duke of Newcastle and the Archbishop 
of York about the mission of bishops into America. It was 
very entertaining." 

Two Jacobite clergymen,* Talbot, of Burlington, and Dr. 
Richard Welton, of Christ Church, Philadelphia, were conse- 
crated by some of the English non-juring bishops in 1723, and 
came to America, exercising their functions secretly over as 
many as received them. The British government commanded 
them to return immediately. Talbot took the oaths of alle- 
giance, and Welton retired to Lisbon. Talbot would not read 
the prayers for the reigning family, nor give thanks for the 
defeat of her majesty's enemies. Governor Hunterf said, in 
1715, that he incorporated the Jacobites at Burlington to 
sanctify his sedition and insolence. The Venerable Society 
ceased to employ Talbot, on account of his disaffection to the 
House of Hanover. 

Gibson,^ Bishop of London, wrote to the clergy in America 
to beware of asserting the invalidating the baptism of Dis- 
senters; for it had been set on foot by the non-jurors, to injure 
the Church of England, and was in opposition to the constant 
doctrine of the church. 

In 1699, Vesey§ declared that experience had undeceived 
him as to the comforts to be found in his new situation as the 
Rector of Trinity Church in New York: — "We find ourselves 
under all discouragements imaginable." Lord Bellamont de- 
scribes him " as capable of any wickedness, base, unchristian ; 
his wickedness is plain; he wants honesty." With Governor 
Hunter he came into direct conflict, and used all means to 
destroy his credit at home. The sin of Bellamont and Hunter 
consisted in refusing to bestow on Trinity Church "a small 
farm," called "The King's Bowerie." They gave the rector a 
lease of it during their continuance in office as governor. 
Vesey wanted it in fee ; he subsequently obtained it. That 
"small farm" now lies in the city of New York, and yields a 
princely revenue. 



* Dorr's History of Christ Church. -f- Albany Documents. 

X MSS. of Ebenezer Hazard, of Philadelphia. \ Albany Documents. 



PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH IN AMERICA. 83 

In 1702, besides Vesey, the clergymen in New York "in 
orders" were Bartow, church missionary at West Chester, and 
Stuart, in Bedford. They were missionaries. Patrick Gordon 
ited suddenly." 

The town of Jamaica* was settled entirely by Presbyterians ; 
and in 1702 there were considerably above a hundred families, 
: >lary for all Christian knowledge and goodness. They 
had a stone church worth <£600, and a parsonage valued at 
£1500; the glebe consisting of an orchard and two hundred 
acres of laud. The Act of 1693 had constituted Jamaica, 
Newtown, and Flushing, a parish, and imposed the obligation 
t<> raise £00 for the support of a minister. This had been 
wholly disregarded until the accession of Cornbury, when the 
Jan. 1702) Presbyterians for churchwardens 
and vestrymen, and settled in the following month the Rev. 
John Hubbard, according to the provisions of the act. He 
WBfl born in Ipswich, Massachusetts, in 1677, and graduated 
at Harvard in 1695, in the same class with Andrews of Phila- 
delphia. 

Hubbard took a journey to Boston, and on his return in 
tlic summer, of a Saturday, learned that Bartow, the church 
missionary at West Chester, had just arrived; and he sent to 
inquire if he intended to preach on the morrow. He answered 
that he did. The next morning, Bartow went to church on 
the last ringing of the bell; and, finding that Hubbard Lad 
begun his service, he went straightway to the "pew" or pulpit 
and sat down, expecting he would desist, "being he knew I 
orders from the government to officiate there." Hubbard 
did not desist, and Bartow forbore to make any interruption; 
but, in the afternoon, he, with the countenance of Chief-Justice 
Mompesson, and Mr. Carter, her majesty's controller, went 
early, and when Hubbard arrived he found Bartow read- 
ing the liturgy. He withdrew, and assembled the congrega- 
tion in an orchard hard l»y. Many went in and look benches 

and seats out of the church. Bartow, on finishing, locked the 

church and gave the key to Cardale, the sheriff. The people 

asked for the key and were refused; and Bartow says, jocosely, 

ding and wrangling thai ensued are by me ineffable." 

• Ifaod m Jd'i II 



84 Webster's history of the 

Lord Cornbury thanked Bartow, as doubtless Abab also 
thanked the scarcely more iniquitous elders of Jezreel, and 
told him, he would do the church and him justice. Accord- 
ingly, in 1703, Bartow is reported as receiving a benevolence 
of £30, in addition to a salary of £50 from the Venerable 
Society. 

My lord summoned Mr. Hubbard and the heads of his con- 
gregation, and forbade him ever more to preach in that church ; 
" for, in regard it was built by a public tax, it did belong* to 
the Establishment." He threatened them with the penalty of 
the statute for disturbing divine worship, but, on their submis- 
sion and promise, he forgave them. He suspended Hubbard 
for a breach of the public peace, and afterward gave him a 
"during pleasure" license; which he held till his death in 
1705. 

The Venerable Society, in 1706,f acknowledged most thank- 
fully the continual bounty of the Queen, " which has had very 
good effects abroad, by influencing and exciting the governors 
and inhabitants to build several new churches, and even to 
convert some of the meeting-houses of the Quakers and other 
sectaries into houses of worship according to the Church of 
England." 

It was during the great plague in London, that Clarendon 
induced his pliant master to add heavier burdens to the op- 
pressed non-conformists ; it was during the great sickness in 
Xew York, in the summer of 1702, that Cornbury sought a 
refuge in Jamaica. He entreated Hubbard in a friendly man- 
ner for the use of the parsonage: it was granted, and, on 
returning to the city, his lordship delivered the house into the 
hands of the churchmen. "The warrant," says Colonel 
Morris, "which he gave to the sheriff to dispossess the dis- 
senting minister of the glebe, was wholly without form or due 
course of law." Cardale seized the glebe, surveyed it out 
into lots, and leased them for the benefit of his party. 

Gordon, who was " expected suddenly," arrived in April, 
1702, and, going from the city to Jamaica, he took sick on 
Saturday, and died in eight days. The Rev. William Urqu- 
hart, who was supported by the subscriptions of the Yorkshire 

* Macdonald's History of Jamaica. f Report of Venerable Society. 



PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH IX AMERICA. 85 

clergy, was inducted July 4, 1704, and Hubbard, being then in 
possession of the parsonage, was ordered by Cornbury to de- 
liver it to the rector : he did so quietly and peaceably. Hub- 
bard died in his twenty-ninth year, October 11, 1705. TJrqu- 
hart retained the church and parsonage unmolested till his 
death in August, 1709. 

Cotton Mather, in his letter to the London ministers in 
170G, tells them, the good people of Jamaica adorned the 
doctrine of God their Saviour by a most laudable silence and 
wonderful patience under these wrongs. 

The next instance* of the success of Keith in engaging 
Cornbury in his daring schemes was the seizure and impri- 
sonment, November 21, 1702, of Samuel Bownas, a minister 
of the Society of Friends. Keith informed against him ; and 
"William Bradford, a printer, who had been disowned by 
Friends, gave evidence that he heard Bownas, in his preach- 
ing at the huu.se of Nathaniel Pcarsall, in Hempstead, speak 
disparagingly of the Church of England in relation to the 
tment of Baptism. 

A warrant was placed in the hands of Thomas Cardale, 
High-Sheriff of Queen's county, for the apprehension of 
Bownas. Colonel Heathcote, in a letterf to the secretary. 
Said, "Many of the instruments made use of to settle the 
church in Jamaica were of warm tempers, and, if report is 
true, indifferent in their morals. One Mr. Cardell, a transient 
person, and of very indifferent reputation, was recommended 
and made high-sheriff <>f the county, and the settling of the 
church was left in a greal measure to his dare and conduct." 
The Son. William Smith calk him "one Cardwell, a mean 
fellow." Thorn] he sustained a despicable character, 

ami, being afterwards thrown into prison lor .-Mine offence, he 
hanged him.-. -if. 

The warrant was served on Bownas while at meeting, in 
Flushing, on the 29th ; ami, though h>' was wrongly named, he 

took no advantage of the defect The sheriff was vetiy 

moderate, ami in a very l'oo.1 humour; he spoke mildly and 

d blamed Keith and Bradford. He let him stay 



nnuL + i-'.J.rii.w v 11. 171 1, quota -I bj Maodonaid. 

; B. r. Th . md. 



86 Webster's history of the 

three days with Iris friends, and then carried him to Jamaica. 
The four justices, on pretence of cold, met in a small room, 
and thus disappointed the great crowd which had gathered. 
A priest was with them, who put the worst construction on 
every thing, and the next day he was committed. 

On the 26th of December a special commission of Oyer and 
Terminer was held, and John Bridges, Esq., Chief-Justice, gave 
"an uncommon charge" and adjourned the court till Monday. 
The grand jury ignored the bill against Bownas. "The other 
justices, being mostly Presbyterians, cared nothing; but Bridges 
said to the grand jury, 'You have forgotten your oaths; I de- 
mand your reasons for not finding the bill.' " James Clement, 
a bold man and skilled in the law, refused to give the reasons. 
The grand jury were sent back; and, finding no bill, Bridges 
threatened to send Clement to London, " chained to the deck 
of a man-of-war, like other vile criminals." Bownas was con- 
fined in a room which had two years before been protested 
against as an unlawful prison ; his friends were denied admit- 
tance; and, that he might be chargeable to no man, he learned 
to make shoes and earned his food. The grand jury refusing 
to find any bill against him in August, he was released, having 
been in prison a year lacking twenty-three days. 

Thomas Hicks, who had been a justice many years, em- 
braced him, and said, "Dear Samuel, the Lord has made use of 
you as an instrument to put a stop to our arbitrary courts of 
justice, which have met with great encouragement since his 
Lordship came here for governor. The judge frets because 
he cannot have his way of you; and the governor is dis- 
gusted, he expecting to have made considerable advantage by 
it. But the eyes of the country are now opened. You are not 
alone; it is the case of every subject, and they will never be 
able to get a jury to answer their end. Had the Presbyterians 
have stood as you have done, they had not so tamely left their 
meeting-houses to the church. He blamed that people veiy 
much for being so compliant to all the claims of the gover- 
nor, although ever so unreasonable and against law." But 
their compliance secured them from no hardship which Corn- 
bury could inflict. 

The next town on the island, Hempstead, was settled from 
the North of England, the first minister being the Rev. Rich- 



PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH IX AMERICA. 87 

ard Denton,* a Presbyterian minister of Coley Chapel in Hali- 
fax. He was small in stature and blind of an eye : the quaint 
annalist styles him an Iliad in a nutshell. He was not accept- 
ablef to the Puritan portion of his flock ; they made no oppo- 
sition until he baptized the children of those who were not 
church-members; then they broke away from him. He re- 
turned to England before 1663, and a long, angry controversy! 
is said to have arisen between the Independents and the Pres- 
byterians, similar to that which caused Governor "Webster, of 
Hartford, and Mr. Iiussel, the minister of TVethersfield, to 
remove with many others to Hadley, Mass., in 1659. The 
Independents contended for the exclusion from all authority 
in the state, and from all privileges in the church, those who 
were not Christians, by an open covenanting with the visible 
church. 

The lax party triumphed; and at the end of twenty-five 

tli«- Rev. Jeremiah Ilobart was settled, and remained 

fifteen years; when, many§ falling away to the Quakers, and 

nior,- becoming irreligious and refusing to support the gospel, 

he removed to Connecticut. 

George Keith || preached there and found the people gene- 
rally well affected and greatly desiring the services of the 
church. The Venerable Society sent thither, in 1704, the Rev. 
John Thomas, who had been a missionary in Philadelphia; and 
1,.- book possession of the church and parsonage in direct op- 
position to the will of the people, for they were more unwilling 
t.. be taxed to sustain a Conformist than a Presbyterian. "The 
eountry,"^ said he, "is exceedingly attached to a Dissenting 
ministry; and, were it not for his Excellency my Lord Corn- 
- most favourable countenance to as, we mighl expect 

rarest entertainment here I have scarcely a man 

in the parish real and steady to the interest and promotion of 

tie' church, any farther than they aim al the favour or dread 

the displeasure of his lordship The people are all stiff 



* Mather's Magnolia. 

f Letter t>. the Claasii of km terdam: quoted la O'Cailaghan'a History. 
I Letter of Church MUaioBary': quoted bj Rev. Dr. Qhraiahael, Beater of Sb 
! ' u tbul M itory "f Connecticut 

th'i Journal: reprinted by Prote tanl Episcopal Historical Booiety. 
olety: quoted by Thompson, Canniohael, 



08 WEBSTER S HISTORY OF THE 

Dissenters ; not above three church-people in the whole parish. 
.... If it had not been for the countenance and support of 
Lord Cornbury and his government, it would have been im- 
possible to have settled a church on the island." 

Thomas gives, in 1717, as the result of twelve years' experi- 
ence of "rowing against wind and tide," that "the pious fraud 
of a caressing and well-ordered hospitality has captivated and 
inclined their affections [to the church] more powerfully than 
the most carefully-digested sermons from the pulpit." 

The church and parsonage remained in the possession of the 
Episcopalians, no effort having been made to recover them at 
the law. To insure quiet occupation, Governor Cosby, some 
thirty years after the seizure, granted them by a royal charter, 
to those who detained them from their lawful owners. 

The proprietaries of East Jersey had from the first granted 
religious liberty, giving two hundred acres in each parish for 
the support of the gospel, and securing to the people the right 
to select their own minister. They surrendered the govern- 
ment to the crown in 1702, mainly through the urgency of 
Colonel Lewis Morris. On the accession of Cornbury, the 
Prayer-book was ordered to be read, the sacraments to be ad- 
ministered only by persons episcopally ordained ; and all minis- 
ters, without ordination of that sort, were required to report 
themselves to the Bishop of London. A bill for the main- 
tenance of the Church* in the Jerseys was defeated solely 
through the unflinching perseverance of a Baptist and a 
Quaker, — Richard Hartshorne and Andrew Browne. The 
Baptist ministers in "West Jersey qualified themselves accord- 
ing to the Toleration Act, and had their places of meeting cer- 
tified, "the Dissenters being troubled in Queen Anne's reign." 

A minister was needed for the Falls, in Shrewsbury, where 
Colonel Morris was about to build a church, — "and he'll en- 
dow it;" and Episcopal churches were about to be erected in 
Amboy, Hopewell, Monmouth, Burlington, and Crosswicks. 

The benefits of the Toleration Act were secured to Dis- 
senters in Maryland in 1702. The irregularities of the clergy 
of the Established church rose to such a height, men of such 
known infamy being put in orders by the Bishop of London, 

* Morgan Edwards's History of the New Jersey Baptists. 



PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH IX AMERICA. 89 

that "a Maryland parson" came into vogue as an epithet ex- 
pressive of unparalleled insolence and immorality. Governor 
Sej'mour* proposed to establish a court, consisting partly of 
la}-nien, to take cognizance of the manners of gentlemen in 
orders. The necessity was admitted of something more effec- 
tual than the supervision of the commissary to restrain the 
disorders; but the governor's plan seemed to savour too 
strongly of Presbyterianism, with its ruling elders, to be 
Accepted in any exigency. 

In Virginia, Governor Nicholson drew on himself the dis- 
like <>f Mr. Blair, the bishop's commissary, and the Scottish 
clergy in the province. He presented such a view of the affair 
to the Government that the council forbade Mr. Blair to leave 
England. He however returned to Virginia, and the dispute 
between the English and the Scotch rectors raged virulently. 
The pnblicationsf on both sides were painfully unbecoming. 
Tlic clergy! ' n Pennsylvania came to the governor's aid, and 
drew up an address again>t Mr. l>lair. 

Mr. lilair,§ describing the state of things in Virginia, said, 
in 1702, "There is a sort like Presbyterians here whMi is 
upheld by Borne idle fellows that have left their lawful employ- 
ment, and preach and baptize without orders." Beverly, in 
17""). speaks of the two small conventicles of the Preaby- 
terians: — "'Tis observed that those counties where they are 
produce very mean tobacco, and for that reason can't get an 

orthodox minister to stay among them." Thus unwittingly 

sords to Makemie the praise of preaching the gospel to 

the pool-; and, to do so, belies Accomac county, which was the 

garden <>f plenty, lie does not go so Ear as the Quaker who 

; - that the soil around BostOta became so impoverished, 

after the hanging of Quakers, that they could not raise wheat 
or p. 

The aspect of affairs thi ghout the colonies was ;i grief 

of heart to the Presbyterians, and doubtless Le£ to mtach con- 



* l»r. Hawl : Protestant Episcopal Choroh in Maryland, ii was, 

however, enacted in Bontfa Carolina, bal i the Crown on the re] resents- 

ii.. n of tin- Lords, Spiritual end Temporal. 

t Beprinted in tin- Chnroh Beview. 

J Pej . edited bg Mr. Bamnel Haaard. 

{ Bepoirtfl "t" tin- \ ■ ■; v. 



90 Webster's history of the 

sultation by letter and personal conference on the part of 
Makemie, Taylor, Davis, and the devout men who wor- 
shipped with them. They devised, as the best plan, that 
Makemie should visit Great Britain and Ireland, and repre- 
sent the circumstances of " those favouring our way in the 
Plantations," and endeavour to interest the ministers in Lon- 
don, and those in Scotland and Ireland, in the defence of 
their rights and in the supply of their wants. With a view 
to this voyage, Makemie executed a power of attorney for the 
management of his property in his absence, and in case of his 
death, and sailed some time after May 30, 1704.* 

" He prevailed! with the ministers of London to undertake 
the support of two itinerants for the space of two years, and, 
after that time, to send two more on the same condition, 
allowing the former after that time to settle ; which, if accom- 
plished, had proved of more than credible advantage, con- 
sidering how far scattered most of the inhabitants be; but, 
alas ! they drew back their hands." He returned in the fall 
of 1705, accompanied by the Rev. John Hampton and George 
McNish, and, it is not unlikely, by Mr. John Boyd, a proba- 
tioner. Makemie's field of labour was on both sides of the 
Pocomoke, the meeting-house being in Maryland, and the 
congregation being called Pocomoke, or Coventry, but most 
generally Rehoboth. Twenty-five miles distant was Snow 
Hill and the associated congregation of Pitt's Creek ; and 
fifteen miles from Snow Hill were the united congregations 
of Monokin and Wicomico. These, having four places of 
Worship, were reckoned as two congregations ; and the pres- 
bytery says, in 1710, there were four congregations in Mary- 
land, counting these as two, together with Rehoboth and 
Marlborough. 

The four meeting-houses in Somerset county had shared 
with Rehoboth the labours of Makemie ; and, when (Novem- 
ber 14, 1705) he waited upon Somerset Court with McNish 
and Hampton, that they might be qualified to serve them, the 
Rev. Robert Keith,! of Coventry parish, and Mr. Alexander 
Adams, anticipated the application. These gentlemen repre- 

* Spence's Early History of Presbyterianism. 

f Letter of Philadelphia Presbytery in 1710 to Dublin Presbytery. 

J Spence. 



PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH IN AMERICA. 91 

Bented to the court, then sitting at Dividing Creek, that they 
had reason to believe that Makemie and his assistants de- 
signed to ask to be qualified as Dissenting teachers, and they 

3ted the court to refer the application to the governor. 
McNish applied ; but the matter was referred to the governor. 
In January, 1700, McNish and Hampton made a joint appli- 
cation to Somerset Court, and it was in like manner referred. 
The business was long delayed; but, at last, Governor Sey- 
mour issued his order, and McXish and Hampton presented 
it to the court, and were qualified (June 12, 1706) to preach 
in the meeting-houses at Snow Hill, the Head of Monokin, 
near Mr. Edgar's, and on Captain Joseph Venable's land. 
Captain Venable was at this time one of the justices on the 
bench ; his residence was on Wicomico. The other place of 
worship was on Pitt's Creek. 

The first meeting of the presbyter}' was probably held in 

mber, 1706;* but the first leaf of the records is lost, — 
the book beginning with a fragment of the minutes of a meet- 

heeember 26,) probably called at Freehold, for the pur- 

of ordaining Mr. John Boyd. 

* [In the Preliminary Sketch of the " Records of the Presbyterian Church," 

printed by the Board of Publication by the authority of the General Assembly, 

-'■■-, the editor, says, " Iu consequence of the irrecoverable loss of the 

fi;-r leaf of the minutes of this body, -we are unable to ascertain the precise duto 

eocledastioal association; but, judging from the first date, which appears 

on page third of these records, it must have been about the beginning of the year 

; \ of Philadelphia consisted at seven ministers, — viz. : Francis 

. John II impton, Qeorge McNish, Samuel Davis, — all, from the best ac- 

emigrants from Ireland, and exercising their ministry on the Eastern Shore 

ryland; John Wilson, also, from Scotland, settled in New Castle, — and 

from New England, and settled in Philadelphia. To these 

I J Im I' I, wh<> ua- tin- first person ordained by the new pres- 
Ln 1706, and settled in Freehold, New Jersey." El>.] 



92 Webster's history of the 



CHAPTER m. 

The records of the Synod of Ulster before 1697* are lost; 
but the Rev. Mr. Iredell declared to the synod, in 1721, that 
he had assented to the Confession of the Westminster divines 
in 1688 ; and it is improbable that any persons were licensed 
without giving to the presbytery entire satisfaction of their 
doctrinal soundness, even in minor matters. What had been 
matter of custom was, by the unanimous vote of the synod in 
1698, made a matter of statute ; candidates, on being licensed, 
were required to subscribe the Confession, and in June, 1705, 
"such ministers as are to be licensed shall subscribe the 
Westminster Confession to be the confession of their faith, 
and promise to adhere to the doctrine, discipline, and govern- 
ment therein contained; as also those that are licensed and 
have not subscribed are to be obliged to subscribe before they 
are ordained." This was unanimously approved of; and the 
next year the presbyteries reported that the rule was uniformly 
complied with.f When the Presbytery of Philadelphia met, 
this doubtless made, of course, a part of their constitution. 

The first leaf of their records being lost, we can know no- 
thing of the articles of agreement embraced in their bond of 
union; but if it were not for the paging, one might naturally 
suppose that a thousand leaves were gone, with the pro- 
ceedings of a century spread upon them; for there is no 
appearance in the movements of the body, indicating that it 

* The facts concerning the Synod of Ulster are taken from the report of "The 
Clough Case," in which authenticated extracts from the minutes were admitted in 
evidence, [before the Court of Exchequer, in Dublin, on the celebrated trial which 
involved the right of the Trinitarian portion of "The Clough Congregation" to pre- 
vent Unitarians from carrying off the meeting-house and Congregational pro- 
perty. Ed.] 

j- In 1708, the churches of Connecticut, represented by delegates at Saybrook, 
unanimously adopted the Westminster Confession, leaving out some things relating 
to divorce and church-discipline. 



PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH IX AMERICA. 93 

was oppressed with a cumbrous system which it had not 
proved. The machinery goes on as quietly as though by long 
use every part had become thoroughly fitted for its place and 
work. Were it not for the names of places incidentally men- 
tit uK-d, one could easily believe that he had taken up the 
minutes of some of the original presbyteries of the Irish 
church. 

The book opens with the brethren in session at Freehold, 
on a [Thursday, engaged in examining Boyd for ordination; 
they held ''Sederunt 2d" on Friday, sustained his trials, and 
on the Lord's day, December 27, 1706, his ordination was 
rmed at "the public meeting-house in this place, 
before a numerous assembly." This was an adjourned 
meeting. 

The meetings were annual. The second was at Philadelphia, 
March 22. 17<>7 : four ministers with their elders were present. 
The adjusters are ranged according to seniority, but the elders 
according t<> their position in society or their age. "WIlsop is 
n the roll, and his elder John Gardner is third; An- 
drews is Beoond, and his elder Joseph Yard is first; Taylor is 
third, and Lis elder William Smith is second; whale McNish 
and his elder James Stoddard stand side by side. Wilson was 
en moderator by a plurality of votes, and McNish clerk. 
It being Saturday, tiny adjourned till Tuesday at 4 p.m., after 
having refused t«> accept the excuse Davis had sent by letter 

far bie absence from this and the preceding meeting. On 
lay, Makemie, Hampton, and Boyd appeared, and the 
meeting was opened by Makemie and Wilson with discourses 
on the first and second verses of the lOpistle to the Hebrews, 
0b appointed at the meeting of the lasl year.' They had little 
business. Wilson wrote requiring Davie to attend the next 
meeting; Hampton gave reasons for nol accepting) at this 
tine-, the call to Snow Hill, now tendered to liim. and it was 

left in his hand-; Taylor wrote to the people to encourage. 

* Th< - an I addition, and trere approved* Aftec the 

■ -h bishops modelled their synods after the Presbyter! 
ti.ni, and appointed a oommittee, celled ••Tin; Brethren of the Exercise," tp arrange 

■ - during the session. Principal Forrester, at the time of fi i 
tin- ]•!■ ea appointed t" deliter " The Addition'' at the 

opening of the 



94 Webster's history op the 

their endeavours for a settled minister among them ; and An- 
drews and Boyd were appointed a committee to prepare over- 
tures for the propagating of religion in the congregations. 
The next day closed their sessions. Makemie wrote to Mr; 
Alexander Colden, the minister of Oxnam, in Scotland, giving 
an account of the state of the Dissenting Presbyterian interest 
in and about Lewestown, and signifying the earnest desires of 
that people for him to come and be their minister. "Wilson 
wrote to the presbytery of which Colden was a member, to the 
same effect. This was probably the Rev. Alexander Colden, 
of Dunse-in-the-Merse, who had a sister of his wife's residing 
in Philadelphia. His son, Cadwalader Colden, M.D., visited 
his aunt in 1710 ; and, going to New York, he acquired the 
favour of Governor Hunter, and was made surveyor-general 
of the province, and was afterwards appointed lieutenant- 
governor. 

The aid from London to sustain missionaries- was continued 
but for a short time. The need of its continuance was pressing, 
and Dr. Cotton Mather and the Boston ministers, in 1709, 
cheerfully gave their concurrence in applying for its renewal. 
"Wilson and Andrews wrote to Sir Edmund Harrison in con- 
cert with the letter from New England; and in 1710, McNish 
wrote to Dr. Tongue in London. Henry, in the following 
year, wrote to the Presbytery of Dublin ; Wilson and Ander- 
son wrote to the Synod of Glasgow on the same head. 

The application to London failed. The Rev. Thomas Rey- 
nolds generously sent assistance and continued it for several 
years. 

The intercourse of the brethren for nine years was harmo- 
nious and happy; quiet, steady growth in numbers marked 
each successive meeting, and the churches which had retained 
their New England connection and their independent form, 
gradually, with their ministers, joined their fellowship and 
walked by the same rule. Newtown and Southampton, on 
Long Island, led the way: Elizabethtown and Newark, ac- 
companied by their neighbours, followed. 

Thus in the formation of the churches, and in the establish- 
ment of the presbytery, the fathers of our Zion brought with 
them and planted on our soil the same system of church order 
and government to which they were attached, and for which 



PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH IN AMERICA. 93 

many of them had borne hardness in their native land. The 
essential elements of presbytery, containing the parity of 
pastors and the prerogatives of ruling elders in their respective 
churches, together with the action of the '-Kirk Session," from 
which an appeal might be taken to a higher court, in which 
the subject under consideration should be authoritatively dis- 
posed of, were principles of government as well known to 
them as to their descendants in more modern times. 

The formation of the synod also occurred with as little 
parade as the opening of a flower; the bud burst its leafy 
bonds and expanded its beauty to the eye and poured its fra- 
grance on the air. It was rendered necessary by the extension 
of territory.* The Presbytery of Long Island embraced the 
province of New York; Philadelphia Presbytery covered East 
and West Jersey and so much of Pennsylvania as lay north of 
Great Valley. All the other churches belonged to Xew- 
sbytery, the project of forming the ministers on the 
peninsula between the Delaware and the Chesapeake into the 
Presbytery of Snow Hill having failed. 

The synod met on the 17th of September, 1717, and was 
called upon by Newcastle Presbytery to pronounce authorita- 
tively ..n the marriage of a man to his brother's widow. Con- 
siderable time was spent in discoursing on it: they made a 

* [Ti of Philadelphia met in that city on Tuesday, September 18, 

171'.. ai i with business until Saturday, the 22<J. On Friday, the 21st, 

I the following minute : — 
" It having pleased Divine Providence so to increase our number, as that, after 
much deliberation, ire judge n may be more serviceable to the Interest of religion 
t.. divide out i nbordinate meetings or presbyteries constituting "no 

annual! Philadelphia or elsewhere, to consist of all the 

wjh subordinat orn ting for this year al leant: There- 

eed by the presbytery, after Berions doliberati tint the first subor- 
dinate meeting or presbytery i" meet at Philadelphia or elsewhere, as they shall 

following members, — viz. : Masters Andrews, Jones, 

Powell, Orr, Bradner, and Morgan. An I tie- second to meet at Newcastle or else- 
at tlo-y shall see tit, to '-on ' t of these, riz. : Ida ters Anderson, MoGill, 

. Brans, and Conn. The third to n t at SncW Hill 

where, I pton, and ffenry, And. in 

nly our brethren Mr. MoNish and Mr. runny are of i or 

numbei meetly r mmend it to them to use theii 

with the neighbouring brethren that are settled there which, as 
not with as, t.. join with (ham in erecting a fourth proebytery." & 
i >a Church, pp. I ■:. II. Board of Publication, 1841. B».] 



96 Webster's history of the 

unanimous declaration of its being incestuous and unlawful, 
the parties not to be restored to church privileges until they 
parted. 

They also began a fund for pious uses, to which yearly con- 
tributions were made by the congregations: by it they aided 
feeble churches, assisted in building places of worship, and 
relieved the widows of their deceased members. 

About this period, a large emigration commenced from the 
north of Ireland; year after year it flowed into Maine, Massa- 
chusetts, and New Hampshire, and New York, New Jersey, 
Pennsylvania, Delaware, and Maryland. The immediate cause 
is supposed to have been the refusal to renew the leases to the 
tenants on the old terms, or on any terms which they judged 
reasonable. 

Cotton Mather* wrote to Principal Sterling, of Glasgow, on 
the 3d of Fourth month, 1713, expressing the hope that, " as 
great numbers are like to come to us from the north of Ire- 
land, the bond between the churches of Scotland and New 
England will every day grow stronger and stronger." On the 
6th of Eighth month, 1718, he writes to him : — "We are com- 
forted with great numbers of the oppressed brethren coming 
from the north of Ireland. The glorious providence of God, 
in the removal of so many of a desirable character from the 
north of Ireland, hath doubtless very great intentions in it." 

Among these were Thomas Creaghead, who came in 1715 ; 
James McGregoire, in 1718, with a number of families, who 
established themselves at Londonderry, New Hampshire ; 
Edward Fitzgerald, at the head of a company who settled at 
Worcester, Massachusetts ; William Coruwell, from Mona- 
ghan Presbytery, with a body of settlers at Casco Bay, in 
Maine, in Falmouth township, near Portland ; and William 
Boyd, minister of Mecasky, (or Macosquin,) who returned 
soon after and settled at Taboyn. Mather also speaks in high 
terms of James Woodside, who also returned. 

On the 10th of Sixth month, 1718, Mather wrote to An- 
drews : — " Sir : it has been a great satisfaction to your bre- 
thren here to understand how comfortably and admirably you 
are strengthened by an accession of excellent men to carry on 

* Mather MSS., American Antiquarian Society, Worcester. 



PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH IX AMERICA. 97 

the work of the ministry with you. The compassion which 
our dear Saviour has herein shown to the sheep in the wilder- 
ness and the encouragement given to his faithful servants who 
wanted such faithful labourers, we have observed with delight 
and veneration. And we promise ourselves that your wise, 
gracious, candid, and condescending union with one another, 
an-1 your continual progression of services to be done for the 
kingdom of God, will be attended with many happy con- 
sequents in yonr parts of the world/' 

The Act of Toleration, relieving Dissenters from the oppres- 
sive Act of Uniformity, was not enacted by the Parliament of 
Jjpeland till 1719, in the sixth year of George I. 

The Dissenters in England, in order to enjoy relief under 
tli- Toleration, were required to subscribe the doctrinal Arti- 
cles of the Church of England. The Irish Presbyterians were 
determined not to accept of the toleration if tendered on those 
terms. On the 10th of November, 1714, there was a meeting 
of ministers and gentlemen at Antrim, to consider on what 
grounds they would receive it; and their unanimous resolve 
that " the first thing we shall propose to the government 
and insist upon is, that the terms on which we will accept it 
shall be OUT subscribing the Westminster Confession of Faith." 
At a full Bynod in Belfast, June 19, 1710, an interloquitur was 
held, and the resolution was unanimously approved and ad- 
i to; yet, as the government might refuse to allow sub- 
Bcription to the Westminster Confession to be enacted as the 
c lition, they agreed in that case to propose, that the condi- 
tion be subscription to this formula: — 

■■ 1 profess faith in God the Father, and in Jesus Christ the 

al Son of God, and in God the Holy Ghost ; that these 
are one < tod, the same in substance, equal in power and 

glory. I believe that the Holy Scriptures of the Old and New 
men1 were given by divine inspiration, and thai they are 

a perfect rule of faith and practice; and, pursuant to this, 1 

sail the doctrines common t<> the Protestant churches 

me and abroad, contained in their and out public Con* 

; Faith." 

I . this, some objected that it might be regarded as « reeedt 

Ing from the Qonfeeeioa bo propose such a fenndla. it was 

feplied, thai the formula vrsi in substance the wmfl with our 

7 



98 Webster's history of the 

Confession, and a compendious abridgment of divers of the 
most fundamental articles of it, and that to tolerate on the 
ground of it, would give the public sanction of authority to 
our standing by and preaching up to all known principles con- 
tained in our Confession. It was agreed, with but one dissent- 
ing voice, that to propose the formula could not rightly be 
construed as a relinquishing the "Westminster Confession as 
our Confession. From the determination as a last resort to 
propose this formula, three ministers and two elders dissented, 
and one minister and one elder were non liquet. 

In 1721, at the Synod in Belfast, Mr. Haliday, having been 
called to the old congregation in that town, declined to declare 
for the Confession, though he had assented to it when licensed 
at Rotterdam. Testimonials of his soundness in the faith 
were produced from the London ministers, from Leyden, Rot- 
terdam, Basle, and Geneva, and from several presbyteries. 
He said, " My refusal to declare my assent does not proceed 
from my disbelief of the important truths contained in the 
"Westminster Confession, the contrary of which, by word and 
writing, I have often declared, as this venerable body can bear 
me witness ; but my scruples are against the submitting to hu- 
man tests of divine truth, when imposed as a necessary term 
of Christian and ministerial communion, especially in a great 
number of extra-essential truths, without the knowledge or 
belief of which men may be entitled to the favour of God and 
the hopes of eternal life, and, according to the laws of the 
gospel, to Christian and ministerial communion." 

The synod utterly disclaimed all power of imposing on 
men's consciences, of which God alone is Lord ; and, at the 
solicitation of the reverend commissioners from Dublin Pres- 
byteiy, they indulged Hallyday, who declined giving the rea- 
sons of his scruples, lest it should cause heat and altercation ; 
but they rebuked the Belfast Presbytery for having proceeded 
to settle him. 

They, however, by a majority resolved that each individual 
minister should express his opinion distinctly concerning the 
Supreme Divinity of our Lord and Saviour ; several declined 
and were excluded. Others professed their faith in the Trinity, 
but refused to subscribe the Westminster Confession. 

A great number of congregations supplicated the synod, 



PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH IN AMERICA. 99 

earnestly, that all its members and all the inferior judicatories 
should be obliged to subscribe the Westminster Confession. 
An overture concerning the Eternal Deity of the Son of God 
was brought in ; an interloquitur was held, and the overture 
remodelled, read three times, and reasoned upon at great 
length. Some withdrew, and, while professing in the strongest 
terms to believe the article, objected to the overture as unsea- 
sonable, and because, in their judgment, they were against all 
authoritative decisions and human tests of orthodoxy. 

The synod declared it to be an aspersion, wholly groundless 
bo far a< they knew, that the Deity of the Son of God was im- 
pugned by their members; and that "it is our resolution that 
whoever denies this article hereafter in the pulpit, or in con- 
versation, or in print, shall be proceeded against according to 
tie- law of the gospel and disowned." 

In 17l'1, Gillespie introduced a declaration into the Synod 
of Philadelphia, which was adopted: — "Our opinion is, that if 
any brother have any overture to offer to be formed into an act 
of aynod, for the better carrying on in the matters of our go- 
vernment and discipline, he may bring it in against next 
." The design of Gillespie was probably to prepare the 
way for an overture concerning some material point of doc- 
trine, perhaps the very one which had engrossed the attention 
of the mother-synod. 1 Dickinson appears to have occupied the 
ground of Ballyday, A.bernethy, and others, who, while profess- 
ing the doctrine of the I >eity of ( Ihrist, objected to any authori- 
decision by a human tribunal, lie, therefore, with Mor- 
gan, Jones, l>. Evans, Pierson, and Webb, protested against 
adopting the resolution, and against its being recorded. 

Andrews* wrote to Oolman, April BO, 17l!-!: — "Two or three 

things have happened within a twelvemonth among us of no 

promising asped among some few other better Idlings. 

The business of the protestation thai happened at our Is | 

synodical meeting, I've endeavoured to heal, and I hope 'twill 

aled. 1 know not but the l'aeiliet Articles have had their 

t The adopted, In 1720, by the Mall Synod. "If any 

tribe shall scruple ji ii v phrase or phrases In the Confession, be 

■hall lie !.. which the presbytery shall aooepi of, 

provided they judge mob i motion shall be 

•• It's II lmv : U | !••.,«■, " til. in we 



100 Webster's history of the 

good use. In short, I think the difference is in words, for I 
can't find any real difference, having sifted the matter in seve- 
ral letters which have passed between Mr. Dickinson and me 
upon it. I am still of the mind, as I told you before, that the 
squabble at New York is at the bottom and has an evil influ- 
ence on our peace. I wish it may not do more hurt hereafter." 

Dickinson, as the moderator, opened the synod with a ser- 
mon* on 2 Timothy iii. IT, in 1722. It bore directly on his 
position assumed in the protest; asserting that the church has 
no authority to make new laws or alter or add to what is pre- 
scribed in the Bible. "I challenge the world to produce any 
such dedimus potestatem from Christ, or the least lisp in the 
Bible, that countenances such a regal power." 

They had accompanied their protest with reasons. McGill 
and McNish produced answers ; when Jones, Morgan, Dickin- 
son, and Evans, brought in a paper testifying their judgment 
concerning church government, which was approved by the 
synod, and ordered by the synod to be recorded in the synod- 
book. Likewise, the said brethren being willing to take back 
their protestation against the act, together with their reasons 
given in defence of said protest, the synod doth hereby order 
that the protest, together with the reasons of it, as also the an- 
swers at the appointment of the synod given in to the reasons 
alleged by Mr. Daniel McGill and Mr. George McNish, be all 
withdrawn, and that the said act remain and be in all respects as 
if no such protest had been made. The articles are as follows : 

" 1. We freely grant that there is full executive power of 
church government in presbyteries and synods, and that they 
may authoritatively in the name of Christ use the keys of 
church discipline to all proper intents and purposes, and that 
the keys of the church are committed to the church officers 
and to them only. 

" 2. We also grant that the mere circumstantials of church 
discipline, such as the time, place, and mode of carrying on, in 
the government of the church, belong to ecclesiastical judica- 
tories to determine as occasions occur, conformable to the 
general rules in the word of God, that require all things to be 

allow of. The synod soon saw the advantage taken of these articles by unsound 
men, and repealed them." — Wodrow Correspondence. 
* MSS. Massachusetts Historical Society. 



PRESBYTERIAN CIIURCH IN AMERICA. 101 

done decently and in order. And if these things are called act?, 
we will take no offence at the word, provided that these acts 
be not imposed on such, as conscientiously dissent from them. 

"3. We also grant, that synods may compose directories and 
recommend them to all their members, respecting all the parts 
of discipline; provided that all subordinate judicatories may 
decline from such directories, when they conscientiously think 
they have just reason to do so. 

'•4. We freely allow that appeals may be made from all infe- 
rior to superior judicatories, and that they have power to con- 
sider and determine such appeals." 

"The synod was so universally pleased with the abovesaid 
composure oftheirdifieren.ee, that they unanimously united in 
a thanksgiving-prayer, and joyful singing the 180th Psalm." 
The reasons of protest and the answer were both dropped 
from the record. The four points presented as the basis of 
ment were 80 materia], in the judgment of the Synod of 
Ulster, that they decided, in 172."), that those who denied thou 

should not be allowed to vote in any matter affecting those 
who believed them, u it being contrary to common equity, 
that, where there is a parity of power, the obligation to mu- 
tual Babmission should not be equal in all the members." 
The next year a Committee of Bills and ( >vertures was ap* 
pointed, on which Dickinson served; but Jones and 1). Evans 
mted from the appointment of it. 
Immediately alter the adoption of Gillespie's proposal in 

1721, a commissi) P synod was appointed to act in their 

name, and with all their authority, in the matter of the fund 

or any other business which may come before them. The 
commission was annually appointed until the formation of the 
General Assembly. The loss of all the minutes of its pro*- 
ceedinga is much to be regretted; 

In 1722, the Iii-h Synod resolved firmly and constantly to 
adhere to the Westminster Confession, as being founded on 
the Word of God and agreeable thereto; and to cleave to and 
maintain the Presbyterian government and discipline, hitherto 

exercised i og them according to our known rules, agreeable 

to the Scripture. 

In 17_' •'., tor the security of the church, they resolved that 

the declaring of Article- of Faith in Scripture language only, 



102 Webster's history of the 

which had been permitted by the Pacification Articles, shall 
not be accepted as sufficient evidence of a person's soundness 
in the faith; and that the condemning of all creeds, confes- 
sions, and declarations of faith in human words, opens a door 
to let errors and heresies into the church. 

These proceedings sent a wave across the Atlantic ; and in 
1T24, the Presbytery of Newcastle entered in their book a for- 
mula, expressing adherence to the Westminster Confession, 
and their candidates on being licensed cheerfully signed it :— 
"I do own the Westminster Confession as the confession of 
my faith." What the Presbyteries of Philadelphia and Long 
Island did during these years cannot be ascertained, their 
records being lost. The formula used by Armagh Presbytery, 
in Ulster, was, "I do believe the Westminster Confession of 
Faith to be founded on and agreeable to the word of God, 
and therefore as such, by this my subscription, do own it as 
the confession of my faith." 

In 1725, the Irish Synod resolved to suspend from the mi- 
nistry all who reproached the church judicatories £pr requiring 
subscription ; and " that whosoever shall maintain- that Christ 
has not lodged any authority in the judicatories of this church, 
but that they are mere consultative meetings, whose decisions 
even in matters of prudence and expediency may be counter- 
acted and defeated by every man's private judgment, ought 
not to be allowed to vote in any matter the decision whereof 
may affect any member who believes the proper authority of 
our judicatories as the ordinance of Jesus Christ, to which 
submission is due in all things lawful for conscience." They 
ordered also that censure be inflicted on those who refused, 
when required by a regularly-constituted judicatory, to give a 
declaration of their sentiments on any important article of 
faith. They transmitted the following overture by a great 
majority to the presbyteries: — AVhether or not we should, after 
the laudable example of the Church of Scotland in their 
General Assembly, require of every minister and ruling 
elder, before their admission to vote in the General Synod, 
that he subscribe or declare the Westminster Confession of 
Faith to be the confession of his faith as a qualification of 
membership? They also ordered, that if any inferior judica- 
tory shall reverse or alter the decisions of their superior judi- 



PRESBYTERIAN OHUSCH IN AMERICA. 103 

eateries, the moderator and clerk then in office shall incur 
suspension as long as the next higher judicatory shall see fit. 

In 1726, the non-subscribers ottered propositions for an ac- 
commodation, which the subscribers rejected as inconsistent 
with the peace and unity of this church; and, "by these their 
principles and their declared resolutions to adhere to them, they 
put it out of our power to maintain ministerial communion 
with them in church judicatories as formerly, consistently 
with the faithful discharge of our ministerial office and the 
peace of our own consciences." The non-subscribers read 
their observations on this paper: eighteen ministers and four 
elders objected to proceed to the vote on it. It was agreed to 
by a great majority, eleven ministers and one elder dissent- 
ing. The non-subscribers, being thus excluded, withdrew, and 
formed the Antrim Presbytery. 

In the Synod of Philadelphia, in September, 1727, Thomson, 
oi Lewi Stown, introduced the following overture:* 

"That tin.- synod, as an ecclesiastical judicature of Christ, 
clothed with ministerial authority to act in concert in behalf 
of truth and in opposition to error, would, by an act of its 
own. publicly and authoritatively adopt the Westminster Con- 
. of Fa^th, Catechisms, cV,c. for the public confession of 
our faith; and oblige each presbytery to require every, candi- 
date for the ministry to subscribe or otherwise acknowledge, 
ooram pnsbyteris, the said Confession, ami promise not to 
I i or teach contrary to it. All 'actual ministers' coming 

among Ofl to do the like, and no minister to teach or preach 
contrary to eaid articles, unless first he propose the point to 
the presbytery or synod to he by them discussed. Each mi- 
nister to recommend to his dock to entertain the truth in I6ve, 
alous, and fruitful, ami earnest by prayer with God, to 

the vine from being spoiled by these deluding 
"t 
thing ifl said of it in the minutes of that year; but New- 

bytery, March 28* L728, requested it to he produced, 
and, being read, a judgment on it was deferred iill the next 
! ing, They say subsequently thai the synod slighted it, 
and that Thomson published a letter wim-h took? effect. Ee 

' [J, b0O Mr. I BTdVl U88. 



104 WEBSTER'S HISTORY OF THE 

printed the overture, with his reasons for its adoption. It was 
proposed, he says, as an expedient for preventing the ingress 
and spreading of dangerous errors among ourselves and our 
flocks. "Being an organized body, we ought, especially when 
apparent dangers call for it, to exert ourselves in vindication 
and defence of the truth we profess. "We are not accountable 
to the judicial inquiry of any superior earthly judicatory; and, 
if we do not exert the authority inherent in us for maintaining 
the purity of gospel truth, there is no earthly authority to call 
us in question for our neglect, our errors or heresies. 

"Perhaps my unacquaintedness with our records may cause 
me to mistake ; but it seems to me we are too much like the 
people of Laish, — in a careless, defenceless condition, as a city 
without walls, having never, by a conjunct act of the represen- 
tatives of our church, made it our confession as we are a united 
body politic, and there being nothing to keep out of the mi- 
nistry those who are corrupt in doctrinals, or to prevent any 
among us from propagating gross errors. Pernicious and dan- 
gerous corruptions in doctrine have grown in fashion among 
those, whose ancestors would have sealed the now despised 
truth with their blood. Our infancy and poverty prevent us 
from planting a seminary of learning ; and we must depend on 
other places for men to supply our vacancies, and so are in 
danger of having our ministry corrupted, by those who are 
leavened beforehand with false doctrine. If such an expedient 
be neglected, (now, I hope it may be done,) those who now 
discern not the necessity hereof, may, ere many years, see it 
when it will be too late; when perhaps the number of truth's 
friends may be too few to carry such a point in the synod." 

The synod met in the fall by delegates, it having been 
resolved to do so in 1724, and to have " a full synod"* every 
third year. The delegates were, from Philadelphia Presby- 
tery, Andrews, Morgan, "William Tennent and his son Gil- 
bert, Pierson, Dickinson, and Parris ; from Newcastle Pres- 
bytery, Creaghead, Thomson, Anderson, Gillespie, McCook, 
Gelston, Houston, and Boyd ; from Long Island Presbytery, 
Pomeroy and Cross. There were twelve elders, all Irishmen 
or Scotchmen, except John Budd, from Philadelphia, and 

* The Synod of Ulster speak of " a full synod" as early as 1716. The plan 
of delegation went out of use in 1730. 



PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH IN AMERICA. 105 

Kathaniel Hazard, of New York. Of the ministers, six were 
from New England. 

The overture on subscription being read, the s}*nod, judg- 
ing it to be a ver} T important affair, unanimously deferred the 
consideration of it for a year, recommending it to the mem- 
bers of each presbytery to give notice to the absent members 
of it, and agreeing that the next synod should be a full one. 

Andrews* wrote to Colman, April 7, 1729: — "We are now 
likely to fall into a great difference about subscribing the 
"Westminster Confession of Faith. An overture for it — drawn 
up by Mr. Thomson, of Lewestown — was offered to our synod 
the year before last, but not then read in the synod. Measures 
were taken to stave it off; and I was in hopes we should have 
heard no more of it. But last year it was brought again, 
recommended by all the Scotch and Irish members present ; 
and, being read among us, a proposal was made, prosecuted, 
tad agreed to, that it should be deferred till our next meeting 
f>»r farther consideration. The proposal is, that all ministers 
and intrants should sign it, or be disowned as members. 
!X<»\v, what shall we do? They will certainly carry it by 
bombers. Our countrymen say they are willing to join in a 
vote to make it the Confession of our church ; but to agree to 
Baking it a test of orthodoxy and term of ministerial com- 
munion, they will not. I think all the Scotch are on one 
.-i'l'\ and all the English and Welsh on the other, to a man. 
Nevertheless, I am not so determined as to be incapable to 
receive advice; and I give yon this account that I may have 
your judgment what I had best do in the matter. Supposing 
J do believe it: shall I, on the terms above mentioned, sul>- 
Bcribe or not? i earnestly desire yon by tin- first opportunity 
to scud me your opinion. Qur brethren have got the over- 
ture, with a preface to it, printed; and I intend to send you 
oik- for lip- better regulation of your thoughts about it. 
Some say ih'- design of this motion is to spew out our coun- 
trymen, — they being scarce able to hold way with the other 
brethren in all their disciplinary and legislative notions. 

What truth there may !><■ in this I know not. Some drn\ it ; 

whereas others say there is something in it. 1 am satisfied, 

* Printed Is Hodgi 



106 Webster's history of the 

some of us are an uneasiness to them, and are thought to be 
too much in their way sometimes, so that I think it would he 
no trouble to lose some of us. Yet I can't think this to be 
the thing ultimately designed, whatever smaller glances there 
may be at it. I have no thought, they have any design 
against me in particular; I have no reason for it. This busi- 
ness lies heavy on my mind ; and I desire that we may be 
directed in it, that we may not bring a scandal on our pro- 
fession. Though I have been sometimes the instrument of 
keeping them together, when they were like to fall to pieces, 
I have little hope of doing so now. If it were not for the 
scandal of a division, I should not be much against it; for the 
different countrymen seem to be most delighted with each other 
and to do best when they are by themselves. My congrega- 
tion being made up of divers nations of different sentiments, 
this brings me under greater difficulty in this contested busi- 
ness than any other minister of our number. I am afraid 
of the event. However, I will endeavour to do as near as I 
can what I understand to be duty, and leave the issue to 
Providence." 

Dickinson published "Remarks"* on a discourse entitled 
"An Overture." It is dated April 10, 1729, and was printed 
by J. P. Zenger, Smith Street, New York. He insists that 
poor defenceless Laish will not be bettered by the wall of 
subscription, which will fall if a fox go over it. Her true 
defence is the thorough examination of candidates on the 
saving work of grace in their hearts, in reviving ancient disci- 
pline, in bringing offenders to account, and being diligent in 
preaching the whole counsel of God. He shows that there 
may be a bond of union without subscription, that the 
synod had already a bond of union in the general acknow- 
ledgment of the truth, and that subscription always causes 
disunion. To shut out of the ministry non-subscribers, is to 
make the Confession, not the Bible, our standard, and is an 
invasion of the royalty of Christ. 

He depicts the sad condition of a good man who cannot in 
conscience subscribe: he is, at best, treated as a weak brother, 
or held up to his people as an object of distrust. He refers to 

* Old South Church Library. 



PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH IN AMERICA. 107 

the dismal group of heresies which crowded into the church, 
within seventy years after the adoption of the Nicene Creed ; 
all of which "flowed from the corrupt fountain of impositions 
and subscriptions. This was the mark set by Providence on 
the first subscription of this kind, and this the defence and 
propagation of the truth that followed from it. The churches 
of New England have always been non-subscribers, and yet 
retain their first faith and love. Subscription, therefore, is 
not necessary to the being or the well-being of a church; 
unless hatred, variance, emulation, wrath, strife, sedition, and 
- are necessary to that end."* 

To this, if Thomson replied, no copy of his answer is 
known to remain. In his view, " secret, bosom enemies of 
the truth (I mean those who, being visible members of the 
church, do not openly and violently oppose the truth professed 
therein, but in a secret way endeavour to undermine it) are as 
dangerous as any; and the church should in a special manner 
-■■ her vigilance against such, by searching them out, 
iiscovering (hem, and setting a mark upon them, whereby 
they may be known, and so not have it in their power to 
deceive." 

Tin- result of this delay was manifest and happy. In 1729, 
all the members of synod were present, except Morgan, Pem- 
berton, Cross, Webb, Stewart, Pomeroy, and Hook; four of 
whom were New England men. There were thirteen elders, 
of whom Mr. Budd was of Ameriean birth, and William 
Williams was probably a Welshman. 

'l'h.' overture was referred to Anderson, the moderator, 
Andrews, Dickinson, Thomson, Pierson, Oreaghead, and 
Conn, and the elder John Budd. They brought in an over- 
ture, which, after long debating, was agreed on 



■ What President I bed the Professorship of Divinity in Yule Col- 

■lipliuii t.i the C.iil'.-.-Mnii binding mi (lie prO&SSOT, Dr. Johll 

Gale, of ELilliogworth, attacked him, and quoted the passage in the text Mr. 
I eplied. Dr. Bellamy wrote "" the Mime side, under the signature of 

*' Paulinos." Dr. Bopldnt w.i- tealoru for the rahsoription. Bostwiok,on hearing 
ft Dr. Dana's settlement si Walhngford, wrote to Bellamy, (January 1, I7.v.'.) 

mercy thai all "ur ministers are professed adherers to the Confession of 
Faith. No Arminiaa oan be encouraged «r pet hi* bread by preaching an 

ttempl has been made by sa lagi man from Ireland, nil 

• coast, but to DC put | 



108 Webster's history of the 

"All the ministers of the synod now present, except one 
that declared himself not prepared, after proposing all the 
scruples that any of them had to make against any articles 
and expressions in the Confession of Faith and Larger and 
Shorter Catechisms of the Assembly of Divines at Westmin- 
ster, have unanimously agreed in the solution of those scru- 
ples, and in declaring the said Confession and Catechisms 
to be the Confession of their Faith; excepting only some 
clauses in the twentieth and twenty-first chapters, concerning 
which clauses the synod do unanimously declare that they do 
not receive those articles in any such sense, as to suppose, 
that the civil magistrate hath a controlling power over synods, 
with respect to the exercise of their ministerial authority, or 
power to persecute any for their religion, or in any seuse 
contrary to the Protestant succession to the throne of Great 
Britain." 

The ministers present were Andrews, Creaghead, Anderson, 
Thomson, Pierson, Gelston, Houston, Tennent and his son 
Gilbert, Boyd, Dickinson, Bradner, Hutcheson, Thomas 
Evans, Stevenson, Conn, Gillespie, and Wilson. Observing 
the unanimity, peace, and unity which appeared in all their 
consultations and determinations in this affair, they unani- 
mously agreed in giving thanks to God in solemn prayer and 
praises. 

They also unanimously ackowledged and declared that " they 
judge the Directory for worship, discipline, and government, 
commonly annexed to the Westminster Confession, to be 
agreeable in substance to the word of God and founded 
thereon ; and, therefore, do earnestly recommend the same to 
all their members, to be by them observed as near as circum- 
stances will allow and Christian prudence direct." 

Elmer, who had recently come from New England, pro- 
fessed himself not prepared to act ; but, in 1730, he gave in 
his adhesion. Pemberton and Morgan "declared" before 
their presbyteries; and David Evans, who had withdrawn 
three years before, returned and adopted the Confession. 

This unanimity was remarkable, and ought to be re- 

* Pemberton, in a letter to Dr. Colman, calls it " our happy agreement." 



PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH IN AMERICA. 109 

garded as a signal manifestation of God's gracious love 
and care. 

The Presbytery of Charleston at the same time were 
sadly divided. The Rev. Josiah Smith, of Cainhoy, and 
Mr. Basset, of Charleston, appeared as non- subscribers. 
The former represented to Dr. Colman* that the mutter 
was urged in an unbrotherly and unchristian manner by 
the Scotch brethren. He published a sermon, in 1729 : — 
"Human Impositions proved unscriptural ; or, the Divine 
Right of Private Judgment." The Rev. Hugh Fisher, of 
Dorchester, South Carolina, published, on the opposite side, a 
sermun entitled "A Preservative! against Dangerous Errors 
in the Unction of the Holy One," Smith's reply was headed, 
"V> NewJ Thing for Good Men to be evil-spoken of." 
Smith said that they denied the right of private judgment 
and insisted on his putting the Confession on the same footing 
with the Bible. This they, of course, denied, and charged 
him with saying that Pierce, of Exeter, had as good right to 
hold his heretical views of the Trinity as they had to hold the 
truth. He declared that he believed every thing in the West 
minster Confession, except the clauses on the power of the 
civil magistrate, on the divine right of ruling elders, and on 
(he subject of marriage with wife's kindred. "There is but 
One book that I prefer to it." His adherence was read in 
Presbytery; but the majority refused to accept it, unless he 
subscribed also seven articles of their framing. The diffi- 
culties continued from March, 1728-9, to 1731. The White 
Meeting-house in Charleston bad been occupied by Presby- 
terians and Independents: the Presbyterians withdrew, and 
the line of separation was drawn between the two bodies, not 
because of tln-ir different modes of church government, but 
as subscribers and non-subscribers. 

There seems fee ham bees a gemewd acquiescence in the 
Adopting Act, each Presbytery reporting yearfy that those 
who were Licensed or ordained did adopt, subscribe, or declare 

for ll.< LOU in the fullest manner. A formula w;is 

ed on the records of Newcastle and Donegal Preabyi 



■ 1 M:v nol 

tehoMtti lii-t..ri -iii Sici.iv Library, J Ibid. 



110 Webster's history of the 

teries, and was signed by each member on being received. 
At Nottingham, some dissatisfaction arose from the suppo- 
sition of a laxness in the matter of scruples ; but Newcastle 
Presbytery hastened to allay it by " declaring openly before 
God and the world that we all with one accord adhere to 
the same sound form of doctrine in which we and our 
fathers were trained, and own the Westminster Confession 
and Catechisms to be the Confession of our Faith, being in 
all things agreeable to the word of God so far as we are able 
to judge and discern, taking them on the true, genuine, and 
obvious sense of the word." 

In Boston, an Irish minister expressing himself strongly 
against the non-subscribers, Dr. Colman laid the matter before 
the indefatigable Wodrow. He was shocked at such unpa- 
ralleled conduct, and feared it was "one of those whose heats, 
having nearly consumed them at home, have carried their 
fire to the Synod of Pennsylvania. "We have a copy of their 
act about subscription ; but I know not well what to make 
of it."* He had lamented so much the divisions growing out 
of this controversy in England and Ireland, that he feared our 
Adopting Act might issue as unhappily. " We are saved from 
these things," says he, "by the Act of the Revolution, Parlia- 
ment making subscription binding on all." 

No instance of erroneous teaching is known to have oc- 
curred until 1735, in the case of Samuel Hemphill. He could 
hardly be called heretical, — being a trivial man, of no vigour 
of thought or capacity of expression, and who indifferently 
took up any printed discourse, committed it to memory, and 
delivered it fluently and handsomely as an extemporaneous 
effort. As soon as he was detected, he was forsaken by his 
zealous friends, and passed at once out of notice. Henry 
Hunter was, in like manner, ready to sail with any wind : 
he used whatever came to his hand, and his folly was soon 
manifest. Branded as heretics, Hemphill and Hunter might 
have been canonized as martyrs; proved to be plagiaries, 
popular odium made them glad to escape from disgrace into 
obscurity. 

Hemphill had been received by the synod from the Presby- 

* Wodrow Correspondence. 



PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH IN AMERICA. Ill 

tery of Strabane in 1734, and he adopted the Confession in 
their presence. Letters from Ireland induced Newcastle Pres- 
bytery (for he began his labours at New London) to call him 
to account; but nothing was proved to his disadvantage. He 
spent the winter in Philadelphia, expecting to find a congrega- 
tion in the country. Being a young man, with a free, hand- 
some delivery, he was invited to preach as assistant to An- 
drews, lie drew great numbers after him ; but many of the 
congregation were disgusted with the sentiments he uttered, 
and ceased to attend. Andrews heard him regularly, and 
notified the moderator of the commission that he wished to 
present charges against Ilemphill for erroneous teaching. 
Franklin was a great admirer of him; and, on the week be- 
fore the commission met, ho wrote and published in his paper* 
a dialogue in which he thus speaks: — "Upon the supposition 
that we all have faith in Christ, as I think we have, where can 
1m- the danger of being exhorted to good works? Is virtue 
. '.'.... Will you persecute, silence, and condemn a 
good preacher for exhorting nicn to be honest and charitable? 
. . . . Supposing our fathers lied themselves to the AVest- 

minster Confession: why should not a synod in George the 
Second's time have as much right to interpret the Scriptures 
as one that met in Oliver's time? .... If any doctrine there 
maintained is, or shall be thereafter found to be, not altogether 
orthodox, why must we be forever confined to that or any other 
( 'out- sssion?" The commission was fully attended. Andrews 
presented eight articles, drawn from the sermons he had heard, 
either impugning or leaving out of view original sin and the 
blood of Christ, and representing salvation by the merits of 
Christ, as setting God forth as stern and inexorable. 

•r many delays, Ilemphill produced his uotes, and the 

sommission declared him erroneous in doctrine, and sus- 
pended him. Tiny published an extrad of their minutes ;f 
and Franklin, early in .Inly, wrote- and printed " Some Obser- 
vations^ on the Proceedings of the C mission La the Affair of 

the Rev. Mr. Hemphill, together with a Defence of bis Sermons 

againsl the Censure passed on them by the Commission." In 



• : In Philadelphia Library. 

Itfa Church Library. J Ittd 



112 Webster's history of the 

this lie assails Teiment of Neshaminy, and his son Gilbert, 
and with virulence defames Hubbell, of Westfield, New Jersey. 
He takes the ground that the old man (Andrews) was jealous, 
and the commission, to uphold him, would have declared any 
doctrine "necessary and essential." He also advertised "A 
Narrative of the Proceedings of Seven General Synods of the 
Northern Presbyterians in Ireland, with relation to their dif- 
ference in judgment and practice from the year 1720 to 1726, 
in which they issued in a synodical breach : containing the 
occasion, rise, true state, and progress of the difference, by 
Antrim Presbytery, with Hallyday's reasons against the impo- 
sition of human tests."* 

Dickinson published anonymously, in September, "Re- 
marks on a Letter to a Friend in the Country ;f containing the 
substance of a sermon preached at Philadelphia in the congre- 
gation of the Rev. Mr. Hemphill, in which the terms of Chris- 
tian and ministerial communion are so stated that human im- 
positions are exploded, a proper enclosure proposed for every 
religious society, and the commission justified in their con- 
duct toward Mr. Hemphill, "f To this he appended the Adopt- 
ing Act, "to | convince the reader that we govern ourselves 
according to the principles here asserted and pleaded for." 
If a man be, in the society's opinion, qualified for the work 
of the ministry, and like to serve the interests of Christ's 
kingdom, they can with a good conscience admit him to the 
exercise of the ministry with them, notwithstanding lesser 
differences of opinion in extra-essential points. But if he 
embrace such errors as, in the judgment of the society, un- 
qualify him for a faithful discharge of that important trust, 
they cannot admit him to the cure of souls without unfaithful- 
ness to God and their own consciences. To admit him were 
deliberately to send poison into Christ's household, instead of 
the portion of meat which he has provided. 

* Franklin's Memoirs of his own Life. The pamphlets he issued in this case have 
escaped the search of Mr. Sparks. The Letter to a Friend in the Country we have 
not seen; but the Observations on the Minutes of the Commission, and the defence 
of the observations, are both in the Old South Church Library, and are evidently 
from Franklin's pen. 

■j- American Antiquarian Society's Library. See advertisement, November, 1735. 

% Quoted by Dr. Hodge. 



PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH IN AMERICA. 113 

Hemphill contemptuously disregarded the synod's citation, 
declaring that he had adopted the Confession only in its "es- 
sential and necessary doctrines," and that he "despised their 
claim of authority." The synod disowned him; and the 
speedy deletion, in the printed works of Dr. James Foster, 
Dr. Ihbote, and Dr. Clarke, of his objectionable discourses, 
covered him and his adherents with confusion. 

The synod desired the brethren to answer any complaint of 
Hemphill if necessary, and agreed to defray the expense out 
of the fund. 

"While this case was before the synod, it was resolved that "if 
any member prepare any thing for the press on any religious 
controversy, he shall submit the same to be perused by a com- 
mittee of the synod." One was appointed for the Xorth, con- 
sisting of Andrews, Dickinson, Kob, Cross, Pemberton, and 
jon; another, of Anderson, Thomas Evans, Cathcart, 
Stevenson, and Thomson.* 

The people of Paxton and Deny in 173G supplicated for an 
explanation of some expressions and distiiic-tioDS in the first 
or preliminary act adopting the standards, great stress having 
been laid by the friends of Hemphill on the restriction eon* 
ta'med in the words "necessary and essential doctrines." The 
synod declared they adopted and adhered to the Confession, 
I liisiu, and Directory, without the least variation or altera- 

tion, and without any regard to said distinctions. 

The eonjnnoi Presbyteries^ of New Brunswick and New* 
declared it to be an aspersion that they do not cleave to 

and maintain the standards S8 fully as the Synod of Philadel- 
phia in their public acts have done. " We believe with our 

hearts, and profess and maintain with our lips, the doctrines 

Bammed up and contained in the Confession of Faith and 

Larger and Shorter Catechisms of the Assembly of Divines at 

the truths of ( tad cevealed and contained in 

the Holy Sei-ijUures of the Old and New 'Testaments, and do 

receive, acknowledge, and declare the said Confession and 
< tiisms to be the confession of onr faith; ye1 so as thai no 



* In 1722, R forbade Gillespie to ].-iMM, troj remarl i 

Atriata c.r Hyn«»i, in • mm <>f ilitripUnti, until they gwve mb 
t Qaotod by Dr. li 



114 Webster's history of the 

part of the twenty-third chapter of said Confession shall be 
construed as to allow civil magistrates, as such, to have any 
ecclesiastical authority in synods or church judicatories, much 
less the power of a negative voice over them in their eccle- 
siastical transactions ; nor is any part of it to be understood as 
opposite to the memorable settlement of the crown of the 
three kingdoms in the illustrious house of Hanover." 

The jealousy of the people for the integrity of the standards, 
and for exact and hearty adherence to them, was most reason- 
able, from their knowledge of the spread of the ISTew Light " at 
home," and from the probability that errorists would cross the 
ocean to corrupt "our church." Great alarm prevailed on ac- 
count of the progress of error in the British Isles. Dr. Col- 
man* wrote feelingly on the subject to Andrews, deploring the 
propagation of dangerous heresies by men who "sheltered 
themselves under the covert of believing the Bible, while they 
refused to avow how far they had departed from the faith of 
God's elect." 

2so dispute seems to have arrayed brother against brother 
until 1738, when Gilbert Tennent and Cowell carried on in a 
correspondence a discussion on the ingredients of holy obedi- 
ence, — whether a view to our own eternal interests could in 
the sight of God be an acceptable motive for seeking salva- 
tion and keeping his commandments? " Sundry large letters 
passed between them. The synod appointed a committee to 
converse with them together, and, if there be necessity, dis- 
tinctly to consider the papers. They ordered them to refrain 
from all public discourse on the controversy, and all methods 
of spreading it among the populace, until the committee have 
made their report to the synod. They were found to be sub- 
stantially and thoroughly agreed, although Tennent feared 
that there had been ' slighting and shuffling' to hide errors 
4 contrary to the express testimony of Holy Scriptures, our 
Confession of Faith, and Christian experience.' " 

Immediately after the exclusion of Hemphill, an overture 
was presented and adopted, lamenting the great and uni- 
versal deluge of pernicious errors and damnable heresies, "and 
that so many wolves in sheep's clothing are invading the flock 

* MSS. of Massachusetts Historical Society. 



PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH IX AMERICA. 115 

everywhere ; and, as we are likely to have the most of our 
supply of ministers from the north of Ireland, the synod 
bears testimony against the late too common and now alto- 
gether useless practice of some presbyteries in that region, 
in ordaining men, sim ttttdo, immediately before they come 
hither, and depriving us of the just right of inspecting into 
their qualifications." 

linbert Cross, Thomson, and Ilouston, wrote to the Gene- 
ral Synod, that "the continuance of the practice will be very 
disagreeable and disobliging to us; and that no minister so 
ordained in Ireland shall be admitted to the exercise of his 
ministry among us unless he submit to such trials as the pres- 
bytery to which he comes may appoint." They suggested, 
also, that it is " our earnest desires, that ministers, besides 
credentials, should bring letters from brethren who are well 
known to us to be firmly attached to our good old principles 
and Bchem< 

A letter was received from the Synod of Ireland in 1738. 
Anderson and Thomson were directed to prepare and trans- 
mit a respectful answer. Yearly inquiry was made concern- 
ing the order in relation to ministers coming from Europe. 
Jt was faithfully observed. 

It being with exceeding difficulty that candidates from Xew 
England conld be induced to visit our vacancies, there was no 
nneasinese felt, lest we should be overrun from that quarter. 
Not until the great revival did "that hive of preachers" 
i. Of the few who came, several returned as soon as 
they could find an eligible situation, — Joseph Smith to Mid- 
dletown Upper Eouses, Mioses Dickinson to Norwalk, Chalkei 
to Glastenbury, Gould to ICiddlefield, Tudor to Eas1 Windsor; 
while four others made only a transienl rtay and passed to 
parte unknown. Philadelphia Presbytery, in 1785, wrote to 
the Elector of Sale in behalf of tin* waste places in We I 
.. Daniel Buckingham,* who graduated al Yale in 1785, 
and was licensed by 1 [ampshire Association, cane' ; but, though 
called to Pilesgrove and GUoster, he went to the Bast Robert 
Small has the credit of being the first New Englander who 
soughta field of oaefulnesfl in Newcastle Presbytery; he 

* ms. Rccorda of Philadelphia Presbytery. 



116 Webster's history of the 

went into West Jersey ; but the lack of good testimonials and 
some ill-reports deterred Philadelphia Presbytery from en- 
couraging him. The Rev. John Adams, a graduate of Har- 
vard, came as a candidate to Philadelphia for the post of 
assistant to Andrews. Dr. Cooper,* writing to Dr. Colman, 
March 25, 1735, said that he intended to have proposed to the 
ministers of Boston to resume the consideration of Mr. Adams 
for Philadelphia, " for I can't but think it a pity that such 
superior talents as his should be so much unimproved." 
Adams preached the opening sermon of Presbytery in May, 
1736, from Isa. xxxv. 2. He settled at Newport, Rhode Island. 

In two cases the committee of synod declined to ordain. 
They had no uneasiness as to the orthodoxy of Cleverly; but, 
owing to the opposition made by some of his hearers, they 
did not proceed to ordain him at West Hanover, (Morristown,) 
New Jersey. The congregation of Goshen seems to have been 
much distracted at the close of Bradner's life with a personal 
difference between him and Samuel Nealy. On his death, 
Samuel Tudor, a native of Poquonnok, in Windsor, who gra- 
duated at Yale in 1728, came as a candidate. f Instead of 
appl}dng to the presbytery, the congregation supplicated the 
synod, in 1735, to send as soon as possibly may be, a committee 
to ordain him. He wrote to the synod, declaring his readiness 
to adopt the Confession and submit to Presbyterian rules. 
The synod appointed him a Latin exegesis and a popular ser- 
mon on Rom. xi. 6, and directed Robert Cross to preside in 
that affair, and with Pumry, Webb, JNutman, John Cross, and 
Chalker, to meet there in the course of the next month and 
ordain. The congregation was publicly notified, on a Lord's 
day, that if any desired they might lay their objections. 
Robert Cross, Pumry, and Chalker met, and did not ordain 
him because of insufficiency. 

Tudor was born March 8, 1704-5, in East Windsor, and was 
married December 10, 1729, to Mary, daughter of the Rev. 
Joseph Smith, of Cohanzy, and afterwards of Middletown. 
He was ordained the second minister of Poquonnok Society 

* MSS. of Massachusetts Historical Society. 

| The New York papers of 1734 describe him as a Presbyterian minister in the 
Highlands who had been pursued by robbers, near the Fishkills, on the 12th of 
August. 



PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH IX AMERICA. 117 

in Windsor in January, 1740, and died September 21, 17-37. — • 
a faithful and useful minister, respected for intelligence, appli- 
cation to business, and dignity of manner. 

Only one minister besides John Orme seems to have come 
from England from the formation of the synod to the disrup- 
tion: — Mr. Peter Finch, in 1724. His testimonials were ap- 
proved, and leave was given to the people in Kent county, 
Delaware, on their request, to employ him. The next year, a 
small sum was allowed him out of the fund. He is not 
again mentioned. He was probably the Rev. Peter Finch, of 
Norwich, who was one of Matthew Henry's friends. 

John MadoweU was accepted by the synod in 173G as a 
probationer, being recommended by the Presbytery of Temple- 
Patrick, the Session of Dunagor, and several brethren of note 
in the north of Ireland. He was appointed to supply the 
new erection in Philadelphia during the months of October 
and November. His name never again appears on the roll. 

' land sent ns few men during the twenty-live years before 
the division. Laingand Eutcheson were Scotsmen, and per- 
haps John Cross, Carlisle, and one or two more. The great 
majority were Nortb-of-Ireiand men, educated at Glasgow. 

During the same period, only one impostor intruded him.- 

self on them, — lainc- Morehead; he preached with acceptance 

in West Jersey and in Newcastle county, and for several years 

■ 1 the efforts of the synod to reduce him to obedience. 

Etc .-nnk into contempt and was forgotten. 

There was much land bo be possessed. There were none to 
go forth with them into the wilderness and contest the inhe* 
ritance. Qreat caution was used in meting out the bounds 
ii congregation, and no new erection was encouraged 
hastily. A perambulation of the territory was made by indif- 
ferent persons, ami the projectors were required to famish the 
neighbouring ministers with lists of their supporters and 
members who were to embark in tin' enterprise. There was 
no lack of delay on the part of the presbyteries, each pastor 
being naturally sensitive on the subject of the invasion or 
mi of bis Legitimate domain. Generally, the people strug- 
gled manfully till the synod or presbytery yielded, and in 
■. hich had made the reverend judical 



118 Webster's history of the 

pause were disappointed, in the mutual growth of the mother- 
churches and their flourishing daughters. The opposition to 
the erection of the ^"ew London congregation was protracted 
for years ; slowly, point by point, every thing was yielded, and 
for the obvious reason that all the gloomy apprehensions of 
the church of Elk River were dispelled. New London, in her 
turn, seems to have resisted the building at Fagg's Manor, and 
with the like result : the church rose on the site selected by 
the people, and no loss was sustained by New London. Boyd 
had a field from 1724 to 1735, covering Octorara, Pequea, 
Middle Octorara, and the Forks of Brandywine. Hanover, in 
East Jersey, struggled, as though its existence were at stake, 
against giving leave to "West Hanover or Morristown to have 
a minister; but, seeing no prospect of reducing "the west 
part" to submission, they yielded, and at leDgth admitted that 
they were no losers thereby. 

In New England the boundaries of the towns and the con- 
gregations were identical and unchangeable until the colonial 
legislature gave leave. This was a cause of great trial to the 
Irish Presbyterians in Massachusetts. In 1718, they settled in 
Worcester,* having the Rev. Edward Fitzgerald for their 
minister. Their attempt to build a meeting-house was out- 
rageously defeated by a mob headed by some of " the con- 
siderable persons" of the place. They had afterwards the Rev. 
"William Johnston ; but they were taxed for the support of the 
first church in the town, and finally he left them and settled 
in Londonderry. They retained their Presbyterian prefer- 
ences, and carried their children for baptism to the distant 
towns where there were Presbyterian ministers ; and the most 
of them, about 1740, removed to Otsego county, then the 
western frontier of New York. Bitter were the complaints 
of the Rev. Mr. Frink,f of Rutland, because of the obstinacy 
of the Irish in his parish. They constituted two-fifths of the 
population, but could obtain no privilege for themselves as a 
separate society until the west part of the parish was formed 
into a town called Oakham. Then they gathered a church 
after the model of the church in North Britain. The Rev. 



* Lincoln's History of Worcester. 

| MSS. of Massachusetts Historical Society. He subsequently took holy orders. 



PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH IN AMERICA. 119 

Mr. Smith, of Falmouth, now Portland, went over to Mr. 
Allen's, May 29, 1736, and met the ministers on the affair of 
the Irish. In the district of Maine,* the same trouble befell 
the Irish settled at Purpooduck, on Casco Bay : the Irish Pres- 
bytery, with William Johnston for moderator, and William 
McClenaghan for clerk, proposed as a compromise that the 
second church of Falmouth should allow the people the use 
of their meeting-house two Sabbaths in the year, for the ad- 
ministration of the sacrament by their own ministers. This 
was denied, and the presbytery proceeded to furnish them 
with regular supplies. 

The Irish Presbytery is mentioned in the Colman MSS. in 
the Massachusetts Historical Society's Collection ; but its real 
name was the Presbyter} 7 of Boston, and the date of its origin 
and its extinction are alike unknown. Among its members 
were the Rev. John Moorhead, of Boston, William Johnston 
and Davidson, of Londonderry, William McClenaghan, of 
Blandford, Massachusetts, James Morton, of Coleraine, Ruth- 
erford, Urqnhart, John Harvey, and John Caldwel l. The Rev. 01-um 
Mr. Lemercier, of the French church in Boston, was also a 
Bofember. A curious pamphlet warfare arose on the receiving 
of the Rev. Mr. Hillhouse, of New London, Connecticut, in 
1736 : Moorhead and Harvey approved, while Rutherford ob- 
jected. The ordination of David McGregoire over the 
second congregation in Londonderry was accomplished with- 
out the consent of the presbytery, and when he offered to 
take his seat, he w&fl refused, Moorhead withdrew and met 
with them no more, and they suspended him "■db officio ct 
io." 

S<> mention is made of this presbytery, in any work we have 
seen, except in a tew pamphlets,'!' nilv :m, l unimportant, in 
rmons preached before it.t and in two or three Letters) 
which are the only vestiges remaining of its existence. 

The influx from abroad, from 1718 to 1740, was wholly Pro- 

* Smith'-* i>i-iry ( in Deane'a History of Portland MAP <>t' afaeaaolraaettfl Hifl- 
I 

t Letter t.> John Presbyter, by Mr. Lemeroier, in Maeseobaeetti Historical 
Society'* Library, 

J MeCtaUghan'l ^rmnn on tli<> ('liri-tinn •-. .1- 1 i *t-. iii.I OaldwaO on tli' 

propbeta, in the Meawoiwaatto Bietorioal Booiety'i Library. 



120 Webster's history of the 

testant and largely Presbyterian. The newspapers furnish 
curious items of the extent of it. In September, 1736, one 
thousand families sailed from Belfast on account of the diffi- 
culty of renewing their leases. On the ninth of that month, 
one hundred Presbyterians from Ireland arrived at Philadel- 
phia, as many more soon after at Newcastle, and twenty ships 
were daily expected from Ireland. At this time, three hun- 
dred and eighty-eight persons from Holland landed on our 
shores. The loss to Ireland is deplored, the linen-weavers and 
small farmers composing a great portion of the emigrants. 
"Wodrow* says, the departure of the people in shoals excited 
the fears of the government, lest Ireland should be wholly 
abandoned to the Papists. He hoped it would lead to exten- 
sion of privileges to the Presbyterians. 

The effect was soon visible. New York had seen for twenty 
years a small Presbyterian flock assembling in a house without 
galleries, six out of its eight windows being closed with 
boards, poverty preventing their being glazed, and the frac- 
tion of light being enough for the handful of people. But 
now the pews on the ground-floor were filled, three galleries 
were constructed, and the sun blazed unobstructed through 
the whole line of windows. The church in Philadelphia had 
increased so much that, in 1733, an assistant minister was 
needed. Newcastle Presbytery was large enough in 1734 to 
set off Donegal Presbytery on the west, and, having surren- 
dered Lancaster county, was able soon after, in 1738, to realize 
the long-cherished project of forming the Presbytery of Lewes 
out of the churches on the peninsula. Philadelphia Presby- 
tery was divided in 1733, and East Jersey Presbytery was 
formed. Long Island Presbytery, declining from the attach- 
ment of the ministers in "the East Riding" to Connecticut, — 
an attachment growing out of its being the land of their birth, 
and strengthened by matrimonial ties and the convenience of 
crossing the sound to attend its associations, — was united, in 
1738, to East Jersey Presbytery, under the style of the Pres- 
bytery of New York. Portions of New York and Philadel- 
phia Presbyteries were constituted the Presbytery of New 
Brunswick in the same year. 

* Correspondence Wodrow Soc. Pub. 



PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH IX A5IERICA. 121 



CHAPTER IV. 

The methods in use in Ireland and Scotland were all intro- 
duced on the erection of congregations. They were so gene- 
rally accustomed to modes closely similar, that no solicitation 
was needed to secure the acquiescence of the people in them. 
The emigration brought over many schoolmasters, and few 
Presbyterian settlements were without schools during most of 
the year. It was rare to find one, (except among the servants, 
and (.'ven among them it was very rare,) who could not read 
and who did not possess a Bible. The Shorter Catechism was 
learned at home and recited at school; and the Psalms in 
metre were largely treasured in the memory; they were the 
lullaby of the babe, and the song at the loom and at the wheel. 
They formed universally a part of family worship. That pre- 
cious privilege was regarded as an indispensable duty. 
Enquiry was made concerning the observance of it, on the 
pCOasion of asking baptism for their children. Family in- 
struction was not neglected; the Catechism was "gone 
through" on Sabbaths by parents, children, and servants; ser- 
mons were repeated, and the points of doctrine duly compared 
with the Scripture. 

The congregations were divided into portions called "quar- 
ters," each of which was committed to the charge of an elder, 

and the people in endi quarter were gathered :it suitable and 

oft-recurring seasons al some convenient point, — it might be a 
kitchen or a barn, to accommodate large numbers, — and old 
and young were solemnly, carefully, and al length, catechized. 
The seed sown in the sanctuary was harrowed in by the cate- 
chizing. The minister knew the state of the flock and how 
they profited by the word preached. 
The presbyteries* visited the congregations, taking first tho 

* MB. Minutes of Donegal Presbytery. 



122 Webster's history of the 

minister by himself, and asking him how he performed the 
duties of preaching, visiting, and catechizing, how the elders 
discharged their office, and how the people hearkened to the 
word and submitted to godly discipline. 

He being put forth, the elders were called in and questioned 
concerning their minister's doctrine, life, diligence, and faith- 
fulness ; as to the extent to which they laboured in their quar- 
ters, and how the people deported themselves toward those who 
were over them in the Lord. Lastly, the people were called in, 
to answer by their representatives, — who were strictly what 
their name imported, — representatives. These were chosen to 
act and speak for the people, to sign the call and be the respon- 
sible agents in all secular matters. They were asked how the 
people were satisfied with their minister and with the elders, 
and how they performed their stipulations for his support. 
Each of the three parties was asked if any cause of complaint 
existed, or of dissatisfaction, and the presbytery proceeded 
authoritatively to investigate the alleged matter and to remove 
it or rebuke the offenders. 

The Lord's Supper was celebrated, according to the usage 
"at home," twice in the year. It was preceded by a day of 
fasting: several of the neighbouring ministers attended, and 
sermons suitable to the approaching solemnity were preached 
on the Thursday, Friday, and Saturday previous. Ordinarily, 
a large body from adjacent congregations came with their mi- 
nisters, and were on the ground before the Sabbath. Tokens 
were distributed, and those from a distance received them on the 
testimony of their minister and his elders. Often they brought 
written requests from their pastors that they might share in 
the feast. Commonly it was in the open air that most of the 
sermons were preached; a covered stand, called a tent, being 
an appendage to every meeting-house. The tables were 
spread and reached across the house and from the pulpit to 
the door. The action-sermon was long and full of the marrow 
of the gospel ; the fencing of the tables was scarcely less solemn 
and even more heart-searching. 

" Then, in the simple music 
Of the old glorious days, 
The hearts of pious thousands 
Gush'd forth in streams of praise. 



PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH IX AMERICA. 123 

The Psalms in metre, the work of Francis Rous,* an English 
gentleman, of Cornwall, were hallowed by innumerable pious 
and tender associations. Plain of speech, our fathers stumbled 
not at the roughness of the verse nor sighed at the lack of 
melody. The same words and the same tunes charmed unholy 
thoughts from the mind of Burns, as he sat, of a Saturday 
night, by the cotter's ingle-side. The same words and the 
same tunes harmonized with Brainerd's devotions, and thrilled 
Whitefield like the songs of heaven, at Cambuslang and White 
Clay. Our fathers were not virtuosi, charmed even in God's 
house with rubbish if rare, and trifles if tasteful: 

"And surely God was praised, 

When David's words to David's tune 
Five hundred voices raised, "f 

When the sacred symbols were uncovered, how many hearts 
broke as if in bitterness for a first-born! and, as they rose to 
take their places at the board, it was reverently, as though 
seeing Him that is invisible; even as though before their 
eyea ( Jhrist had been set forth evidently crucified among them. 

The Lord's Supper was, in its fullest sense, a monument of 
the great facts of redemption, — a memorial of the necessity of 
atonement, the glorious Deity of the Son of God, the freeneas 
of justification, and the fulness of the promises. The mode 

* [Francis Rous, or Rouse, was born at Halton, in Cornwall, in 1579, and edu- 
cated at Broadgate Hall, now Pembroke College, Oxford. Ho studied law; and in 
the fir-t Parliament called by Charles I., he was returned for Truro, in Cornwall, 
gony in tin.- third, and tot Truro again in the fifteenth and sixteenth of that 
reign. He was one of the fen laymen appointed by the Commons to sit in the 
Assembly of Divines at Westminster, He sat In the Parliament called in 1668, and 

held the post of Speaker for a month. He aimed at conforming the government 
to the model Of the Jewish; but, failing in this object, he proposed that Cromwell 

should be slerated it rule with the title of Protector. Cromwell made him ono of 

_■■■.-. oosellors. He eras made Provost of Eton in 1648, at which place he 

died in 1669, and was buried with great pomp and splendour. His chief works 

were Meditations dedicated to the Baints throughout the three nations; The Law- 

of obeying the Preeenl Government; The Beauties of the Fathers of the 

ree centuries; Interior* Etegni Dei; and a Translation of the Psalms into 

English MetN, printed in IC1">, by order of the lion ■ .- of Commons. Vi'le Hose's 
BiOg. Did, foL \i. p. 692. London: B. Fellow. -s. [fldgatC Strct, 1M7. Tho 

Version of the Psalms, after being modified by ■ oommlttee, was adopted, in L649L 
by the G nbly of the Church of Bootland.— Ed.] 

f Mrs. Gray, of Last -n, Pennsylvania. 



124 WEBSTER'S HISTORY OF THE 

in which it was administered rendered it necessary that the 
highest truths, the loftiest themes, should be preached, and 
with unction. Every circumstance conspired to invest even 
the most lifeless preacher with such a feeling of the greatness 
of the occasion, as made him surmount at least for the time 
the narrow limits of his talents, and speak in the demonstra- 
tion of the Spirit and with power. The closing service of 
thanksgiving prepared the way to return home, pondering in 
their hearts the great things which had been told them. Those 
were golden days, when souls were enlightened with such a 
knowledge of Christ, as if the light of the sun had been seven- 
fold, as if the light of seven days had poured at once on the 
worshippers, with healing in every beam. 

Many of the congregations furnished their ministers with a 
house and farm, or else promised him in the call a sum of 
money to buy a plantation. The salaries were mostly paid in 
kind, wheat, Indian corn, hemp, and linen yarn being fre- 
quently specified in the call; and, from a riddle to a squire's 
" publishment of a marriage" or an " estray," every imaginable 
article is entered on their surviving "count-books" as being 
received in payment of stipend. 

Classical schools were established by man} T ministers. An- 
drews probably had one in Philadelphia; Dickinson had at 
Elizabethtown, Thomas Evans at Pencader, and William Ten- 
nent at iSTeshaminy. The school at New London went into 
operation soon after Alison's settlement. Two-thirds nearly 
of the ministers, until 1738, were graduates of Glasgow Uni- 
versity. The New England men were mostly from Yale. The 
few Welshmen were scholars of a high standard, their educa- 
tion having been thorough and on a liberal scale. 

Of the style of preaching little judgment can be formed. 
Franklin evidently had no favour to them; for he says, he 
would rather hear Hemphill preach other people's sermons 
fluently, than hear the old synod preach their own dull com- 
positions. Makemie printed but one sermon, long, full, clear, 
and valuable : his other productions are plain and vigorous in 
style. 

It is remarkable that Andrews, during a ministry of forty- 
five years in Philadelphia, is not supposed to have published 
a line; while Morgan put forth almost as many sermons as 



PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH IX AMERICA. 125 

any Xew England divine of his day. Dickinson appears to 
have passed twelve years of his ministry without using the 
press; but, after that, he was before the public to the latest 
year of his life, discussing the Evidences of Christianity, the 
Doctrines of Grace, the Claims of the Prelatists, the lifeless 
Scheme of Baptismal Regeneration, and the serious errors of 
judgment among the unwise friends of the Revival. Robert 
i published one sermon, Pierson three, and Pemberton 

a] ; while Gilbert Tenneiit's writings issued from the press 
like bees from a hive; no complete list of his multitude of 
publications will probably ever be made. 

None are known to have left any work in manuscript, ex- 
cept Henry, of liehoboth. Scarcely a fragment of their corre- 
spondence exists. 

They were mostly worthy men, few of them of a rare order 
of talent, but learned and competent for an honourable dis- 
charge of their office. Of their success in winning souls, we 
may hope there is a bright reeord on high; but on earth their 
lii'inoi-ial has perished with them. 

Morgan* tells us that at one or two periods of his ministry, 
he saw the w<>rd take effect on many souls. In 1719 and '20,f 
there \v;i- in Monmouth county an amazing change; new con- 
done were formed, and "the marks of a work of grace 
astonishingly plentiful among those who had lived longer 
hnder means of grace." Hopewell and Maidenhead received 
a large inoreas* , the iir.-4-l'riiits of the youthful labours of 
Mosee Dickinson. There is a tradition of a revival at Jamaica 
under Rdbert Cross. The Dutch Efceformed church in New 
: . in the Rev. Theodore James Frelingiraysen, 
a mosl eminently v. :-.•. laborious, and successful servant of < tod. 
.tht'ul counsel roused Gilbert Tennent to consider nar- 
rowly his own performances, and to gird himself for a more 
vigorous invasion of Satan's kingdom. A considerable degree 
attended Tennent'e preaching on Staten Island and 
at N«'\\ Brunswick. Hie brother John rami- like "a dew iVom 
the Lord" on khe plains of .Monmouth, and dhanged Freehold, 
from a feeble, diffracted congregation of careless hearers, into 

* Answer to in Anonymoiu Kailer a. — Am. Aatiq. Boo. Lib. 

fMfi Hon Mather.— Am. Aftttq. 8oo. 



126 Webster's history of the 

a large and united body of devoted, well-taught Christians. 
John Cross, also, "at a place called the Mountains, back of 
Newark," enjoyed such a degree of success that the fame of 
it reached Northampton, and is mentioned by Edwards in his 
Thoughts on Revivals. 

The "Marrow Controversy" in Scotland, and the secession of 
the Erskines, could not fail of interesting deeply the members 
of synod. Gilbert Tennent and his father were correspondents* 
of the Erskines : and the alumni of Glasgow partook largely 
of the feeling pervading the West of Scotland in regard to the 
growth of Pelagianism and profanity under the deathlike 
shadow thrown by moderatism and patronage over "the hail 
kirk." When, therefore, in 1733, Gilbert Tennent introduced 
his overture concerning ministerial faithfulness in preaching 
and in dispensing the sacraments, the synod accepted it and 
formed it into an act ; each presbytery entered it on their book, 
and took order for the careful observance of it. 

For the first thirty years, the synod received, almost without 
an exception, its candidates and its ministers from the mother- 
country or New England ; but towards the close of that period, 
natives of the middle colonies, or persons who had received 
all their education here, came forward to be taken on trials. 
The first who is known to have pursued his whole course of 
study in the bounds of the synod was Gilbert Tennent, who, 
shortly after being licensed, received from Yale the degree of 
A.M. His brother John was the next, and his performances 
were universally approved by Newcastle Presbytery. 

The state of feeling in the synod towards other denomina- 
tions appears strikingly in the circumstance of their having 
allowed the Presbytery of Philadelphia to ordain the first Lu- 
theran minister who settled in Berks county. This case has 
been sadly misrepresented; Dr. Hill having charged Andrews 
with such laxness that he consented to ordain a Dunker. 

The Lutherans had, very early, a congregation in New York 
city, using the Low Dutch language. In their settlements on 
the Mohawk, and in Dutchess county, the preaching was in 
High Dutch. The Swedish churches were Lutheran, and had 
ministers from their own country; but the German Lutherans 

* Whitefield's Letters, 3 vols. 



PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH IN AMERICA. 127 

in Pennsylvania, though numerous, had none to minister to 
them in their own tongue. They had been involved in 
trouble, owing to objections being made to the title by which 
they held their land in Schoharie, in New York; and, in 1729, 
many removed to Oley and Tulpehocken, in Berks county. 
Among them was the well-known Conrad "Weiser, the Indian 
interpreter. 

In August, 1730, John Peter Miller arrived in Philadelphia 
and began to preach to them. He was born in Oberant Lan- 
tern, in the Palatinate, and had graduated at the University of 
Heidelberg. He presented himself for ordination to the 
synod, who "agreed that the Dutch probationer be left to the 
care of Philadelphia Presbytery to settle him in the minis- 
try.'' Andrews, writing to Dr. Colman,* October 4, 1730, said, 
"There is lately come over a Palatine candidate for the minis- 
try, who, having applied to us at the synod for ordination, 'tis 
Left to three ministers to do it. He is an extraordinary person 
for sense and learning. We gave him a question to discuss 
about Justification, and he has answered it in a whole sheet 
of paper in a notable manner. He speaks Latin as readily 
as we do the vernacular tongue, and so does the other, Mr. 
Weiss." 

Miller was "ordainedf at the end of 1730, upon order of the 
Scotch Synod, in the old Presbyterian meeting-house in Phila- 
delphia, by three eminent ministers, Tennent, Andrews, and 
Boyd." lie officiated for the Lutherans in Oley and Tulpe- 
hocken for several years; but in September, 1735, he was im- 
mened by Oonrad Beissel, of Bphrata, having adopted the 
views "i' the Seventh-day Baptists. In this he was followed 
by Weiser, who subsequently returned to the Lutheran church. 
Miller removed to the " EQoster" at ESphrata, and assumed the 
Dame of Jabez, Beissel being called Friedeam. The fraternity 
dressed like Capuchins. Millerwaswell known in the literary 
world: he had an extensive correspondence, and was the au- 
thor of "Chronicon Ephratense." Ee succeeded Beissel as 
head of the society, and died September 21, 1796.} 



I Mated in Bodgrt Betray, from B. BmuA*! M88. 
t Pahneftoek*! BkaMh of the Donkara 

X Dr. Douglas.*, iu his work on the Provinces, ppcaks of him as writing very 



128 Webster's history of the 

Mr. Weiss, mentioned by Andrews in connection with 
Miller, was the minister of the German Reformed Church in 
Gosenhoppen, Pa. 

Mr. Johannes Henricus Goetschius, or Goetschy, applied, 
through Andrews, to the synod, in May, 1737, signifying the 
desire of many of the German nation that he might be or- 
dained on the synod's order. He was a native of Switzer- 
land, and had been educated at the University of Zurich. 
His testimonials from Germany were ample, and satisfied the 
synod as to his learning and good Christian conversation. 
They recommended him to Philadelphia Presbytery, to act 
upon further trials of him as to them should seem fit. The 
presbytery met two days after, and agreed that he might 
preach, but declined to ordain him for a season, because, 
though learned in the languages, he was deficient* in divinity 
and college learning. Where he was ordained, or by whom, 
is unknown to us; he served the Reformed Dutch Church in 
Bucks county, and was settled, in 1741, the first pastor of 
Jamaica, Newtown, Success, and Wolver's Hollow, on Long 
Island. In 1751, he removed to Hackensack, ISTew Jersey. 

In 1729, the synod bore testimony against, and declared their 
great dissatisfaction at, the religious lawsuits that are main- 
tained among professors of religion, so contrary to that peace 
and love the gospel requires, and the express direction of the 
Holy Ghost, (1 Cor. vi. 1-3,) and consequently very much to 
the scandal of our holy profession. They recommended to each 
minister to bring his congregation into a joint agreement to 
avoid all unnecessary lawsuits for the future, and to refer diffi- 
culties which cannot easily be accommodated between them- 
selves, to prudent, religious, and indifferent friends, (if it may 
be, of our own profession,) mutually chosen or otherwise, as 
such society shall think best, to decide and determine such 
differences. 

The particular occasion calling for this testimony was, pro- 
bably, the necessity of intrusting church and parsonage lands 
to individuals, to be held in their own name. It was removed 



finely in Latin on Religious Mortification. Morgan Edwards mentions him with 
much respect. 

* Manuscript Records of Philadelphia Presbytery. 



PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH IX AMERICA. 129 

in Pennsylvania, by the law of 1731, allowing religious socie- 
ties to hold lands,* and securing to them the property already 
in their possession. 

In 1734, the synod forbade its members in "Pennsylvania 
and the lower counties from this time forward to marry any by 
license from the governor, till the form of them be altered and 
brought to a nearer conformity to those of the neighbouring 
governments of New York and New Jersey; and particularly 
till they are altered in such a manner as hath nothing peculiar to 
the ministers of the Church of England, nor oblige us to any 
of the forms and ceremonies peculiar to that church." The 
Presbyteries of Newcastle and Donegal were ordered con- 
junctly to make such regulations for their members as was fit. 
Orr, of Nottingham, was soon tasked by his brethren for hav- 
ing married the Rev. Benjamin Campbell with a license; and, 
thirty Tears after, Ilezekiah James Balch was gravely ques- 
tioned by Donegal Presbytery concerning his having been 
married by an Episcopal minister. lie excused himself that, 
Mr. Bay not being at home, he had to submit to the Common 
Prayer-Book formula or go unwed. About that time, New- 
castle Presbytery called up Dr. Robert Davidson, then a 
licentiate, for having joined himself in marriage to an unbap- 
ti/c.l person. 

In 1738, the " marriage act" was so modified that ministers 
had Liberty to marry by license in certain exempt cases; but 
they were enjoined to marry none clandestinely, or without 
consenl of parents or guardians; and if either of the par- 
ties belonged to any congregation of ours, not to marry 
unless they produced certificates from their minister of there 
being no hinderance; and if from vacant congregations, then 
to bring like certificates from substantial persons. 

in IT;;'. 1 , the Presbyterians'] of Lancaster county, with their 
respective ministers, represented bo the General Assembly 
of Pennsylvania, thai they bad been educated according to 
the doctrine, worship, and government of the Church of Scot- 
land, and were excluded from all offices, and from giving evi- 
dence, by B ceremony (kissing the book) which, in their judg- 



* Boiton "ii the Land TiOea of Pennsylvania. 
f WaUon'.- Anxutfi of Philadelphia. 
9 



130 Webster's history of the 

ment, is inconsistent with the word of God. They prayed 
that a law might pass authorizing them to take the oath with- 
out such form. 

The intercourse with the Church of Scotland was limited 
and unfrequent ; but two instances occur in thirty years of an 
interchange of letters. The first was in 1727, when the com- 
mittee to settle the difficulties in the congregation of New 
York was directed to write an account of the aftair to Scot- 
land. The committee met in November; and a letter from 
the Commissioners of the Assembly was presented, and they 
wrote an answer. In 1730, the General Assembly sent to 
Dr. Nicoll a copy of their act, securing the property in New 
York to the use of a Presbyterian church forever, and ordered 
him to lay it before the synod. He did so, and the synod 
found that the terms of the act had been complied with. 

In 1733, on hearing that certain gentlemen in Virginia had 
behaved harshly and injuriously to the Eev. Hugh Stevenson, 
while on a mission to our vacancies in the colony, a copy 
of his representation was sent to the Assembly, and that 
venerable body was requested to use their influence to pro- 
cure them three benefits : — 

1. Assistance from the societies for propagating Christian 
knowledge, or some other source, to support itinerant minis- 
ters in Virginia. 

2. The favourable notice of the government to restrain and 
discourage persons in that province from hampering, by illegal 
prosecutions, our itinerant missionaries. 

3. Some assistance from his Majesty for our encouragement, 
by way of regium donum. 

Andrews, Anderson, Thomson, and Stevenson wrote and 
sent two copies of the letter, that one might, if not both, 
reach its destination. No answer was received. 

In 1730, the Commission of the Assembly wrote to the 
synod, informing them of moneys left by the Rev. Dr. Daniel 
"Williams for the propagating of the gospel in foreign parts. 
After much discourse, Andrews, Anderson, Thomson, and the 
elder John Budd, were appointed to write a reply, and also 
to address the associated ministers of Boston on the matter. 
In 1731, answers were received from Boston, and from Mr. 
William Grant, President of the Scottish Society for propa- 



PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH IN AMERICA. 131 

gating Christian Knowledge. They were read; but no action 
was taken on them. This correspondence probably opened 
the way for Dickinson and Pemberton to propose to the 
society to undertake the support of missionaries to the In- 
dians in New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania. The 
result was, that they, with others of New York Presbytery, 
were appointed correspondents of the society, with power to 
select fields, employ missionaries, and superintend their pro- 
ceedings. 



132 Webster's history of the 



CHAPTER V. 

The causes were at work for a score of years, out of which 
rose the " Great Revival," giving existence and form to its 
glorious and memorable mercies, and to its deplorable and 
remediless catastrophe. There were circumstances — some 
obvious, and more unsuspected — creating the necessity for 
that amazing revolution in the hidden springs of our 
church's life. Zinzendorf, "Wesley, and Whitefield were not 
the authors of " the manner of the time;" they were but the 
lightning and the thunder, the rushing wind and the rain-tor- 
rents, in which the long-gathering storm breaks forth. God 
visits the waters, the parching pasture, and the withering 
field; we gaze on the dividing of the flames of fire, the 
shaking of the wilderness, and the terrific land-flood, as 
though they had no king over them. In another age, how 
little could those great evangelists have accomplished ! 
"Thou preparest them corn, when thou hast so provided 
for it." 

It was a period of migration. Families left their homes 
for a forest. Untried paths and unthought-of embarrassments 
wrought amazing and rapid changes in the energies and the 
plans of the new settlers. Daring ventures, hazard of life, and 
want of old restraints, good influences, and holy privileges, 
shaped the spirits of the people after another pattern than that 
which was shown to Moses in the mount. They sought ex- 
citement rather than instruction, and wearied of the cus- 
tomary methods, so venerable in the meeting-house standing 
amid their fathers' sepulchres, a substitute was sought for 
the joy that grows out of meditating, reflecting, and praying. 
They desired to enjoy a sensible impression on their hearts; and 
comfort to be swallowed, as an exhilarating cordial, — stimulat- 
ing, strengthening, requiring no other effort to understand or 
appreciate it than was needed beside the blazing fire, to feel the 



PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH IN AMERICA. 133 

genial heat pervading the freezing limbs, and driving the torpid 
current through the numbed extremities. They who live in 
settled homes may wait for the slow leavening of the dough and 
the thorough baking of the loaf; but he who came in hungry 
and exhausted, was glad of a cake baked before the glowing 
coals. The sudden summons to flee from the savage made them 
snatch up the food, however uninviting. There is a oneness 
in our bodily and our spiritual habits : they wanted preaching 
suited to warm and enliven them, — undervaluing the slow 
enlightening, the gradual process of the leaven in the three 
measures of meal. 

A remarkable succession of diseases, for a period of years, 
traversed the provinces, or, confined to a few localities, bore 
off the children and the youth; yet those years were not more 
remarkable for unexampled mortality than for unbridled merri- 
ment. The gayety seemed unchecked, though the gayest had 
I away; though the flower and the life of the revels had 
bees mown down; though the new lines of graves in every 
burial-place were like the swarths behind the reaper. 

There was mourning for the dead by many a hearth, — 
mourning admitting of no consolation, for they had died with- 
out repenting. Deep and bitter were the concealed heart* 
searchinge of parents; often the light-hearted wept upon their 
pillow. 

A vast change was visible in the churches of New England: 
tin- discipline was relaxed, the doctrine was diluted, and the 
preaching tame and spiritless. A written form of words super- 
Mil, d the DOtee which had served for "a brief" in the pulpit; 
the confinement of the eye and the finger to the Line, and the 
absorption <>f the minister iii the reading of the scroll, left the 
young onawed and the aged slumbering, while the ethers 

glided in reverie to the Sum or the traffic, the fireside or tho 
forest The powerless Sabbath was followed, as soon &s the 

sun went down, !.y visiting, gayety, and the resumption of 

worldly talk, if nc4 of worldly pork. Dancing became a re- 
spectable diversion, and attained to amazing popularity, espe- 
cially in the new settlements. 

The home of the emigrant famished him with many induOO- 

liienN to remember and reflect Disappointment and Borrow 

came; sickness and bereavement i\\i>w him to his Bible: and 



134 Webster's history of the 

the family which had not known God, gladly gathered round 
the mercy-seat, because their soul fainted in them. 

There was a widely-diffused remembrance of the powerful 
preaching of other days, when the terrors of the Lord darkened 
the sky and deluged the earth with the summer rain, and the 
glory of Jesus — a rainbow like unto an emerald — shone round 
the Father's throne, and filled the heart with peace in be- 
lieving. There was a sighing after the consolations of the 
gospel, — the support of the everlasting arms. They asked for 
bread which would satisfy. This remembrance was kept alive 
by the occasional hearing of faithful preaching, and the con- 
stant renewal of reports of the success of the gospel in the Old 
World. 

These reports awakened much curiosity, and kindled in 
pious hearts a spirit of supplication and " a looking-for of re- 
demption." 

There were, throughout the land, many able ministers of 
the New Testament, — workmen that needed not to be ashamed ; 
and a large number of mature or aged disciples who prospered 
through the preaching of the truth. There was also the abiding 
presence of Christ in his church, like the unnoticed dew on 
the mown grass. His spirit was brooding on the face of the 
darkened deep, and the way of the Lord was prepared as the 
morning. 

The declining power of godliness was a subject of lamenta- 
tion in 1733; and the synod earnestly recommended, as a 
proper means to revive it, that all its members take particular 
care about ministerial visiting of families, and do press house- 
hold and secret worship according to the Westminster Direc- 
tory. Each presbytery was ordered to make inquiry, at suitable 
seasons, of each minister, touching his diligence in each par- 
ticular. It being found, the next year, that the order had not 
been fully put into execution, it was renewed ; and the brethren 
were earnestly obtested, conscientiously and diligently to pur- 
sue the good designs thereof. This meeting was very large, 
there being thirty-two ministers present and only seven absent, 
none of the latter being, important persons. There were also 
fifteen elders. On the 20th of September, Gilbert Tennent 
introduced an overture that there be due care in examining 
candidates for the Lord's Supper, and for the ministry, on the 



PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH EH AMERICA. 135 

evidences of God's grace in them, as well as their other neces- 
sary qualifications. He had then been in the ministry about 
seven years, and had been solemnly exercised during severe 
sickness concerning his manner of dealing with souls; and on 
recovering, had, upon examining "the states of his people," 
found that most had, in his judgment, "built upon sand." 
The short ministry of his brother John, his faithfulness and 
large success, had impressed him deeply; and he was ready to 
say, with Elijah, "I only am left, and they seek my life; I am 
very jealous for the Lord of hosts." 

How many of the errors of his life had never been com- 
mitted, could the still, small voice have been heard by him, 
declaring that God had reserved seven thousand undefiled 
souls for himself! 

Hi< overture was intrusted to a special committee of Ander- 
son, Thomson, Dickinson, and Cross. They reported, and the 
admonition was unanimously approved by the whole synod: — 

m Ab it hae been our principle and practice, and is recom- 
mended in the Westminster Directory, to he careful in this 
matter, so it awfully concerns us to be serious and solemn in 
these trials. We do, therefore, in the name and fear of God, 
exhort and obtest our presbyteries to take special care noi to 
admit into the .-acred office loose, careless, and irreligious 
men; hut particularly to inquire into the conduct, conversa- 
tion, and behaviour of Buch as offer themselves to the ministry, 
and that they diligently examine them in their experience of a 
work of sanctifying grace in their hearts, and admit none to 

the Bacred trust that are not, in the eye of charity, BeiioUfl 

( 'hri-tians. 

"We do also Beriously and solemnly admonish all our 
ministers to make it their awful, constant, and diligent oare to 
approve themselves to God, to their own consciences, and to 
their hearers, as serious, faithful Btewards of the mysteries of 
God, and of holy and exemplary conversations. 

""We do also exhort them to u-<- due oare in examining 

. they admit to the Lord's Supper." 
They added, also, a unanimous recommendation to the 

presbyteries to take effectual can- that each of their members 
should he faithful in the discharge of their awful trust In 

particular, that they frequently examine into the life of each 



136 Webster's history of the 

minister, his conversation, diligence, and methods in dis- 
charging his calling; and that at least yearly, they examine 
into his manner of preaching, whether he insist on the great 
articles of Christianity, and recommend the crucified Saviour 
as the only foundation of hope ; the absolute necessity of the 
omnipotent influence of the divine grace to enable them to 
accept of this Saviour; whether he do, in the most solemn and 
affecting manner he can, endeavour to convince his hearers of 
their lost and miserable state while unconverted, and put them 
upon the diligent use of those means necessary to obtain the 
sanctifying influences of the Spirit. "Whether he do (and how) 
discharge his duty to the young people and children in cate- 
chizing and familiar instruction; and whether and in what 
manner he visits his flock and instructs from house to 
house.* 

This recommendation was to be copied into each presbytery- 
book, and to be read at the opening of each meeting; the 
ministers who are found defective to be censured, and, refusing 
to submit, to be reported to the synod. 

The records of Philadelphia Presbytery show that the rule 
was complied with in regard to candidates for the ministry. 
East Jersey Presbytery complained, the next year, that they 
are incapable to comply with the excellent design of the act, 
by reason that several of the members, and John Cross in par- 
ticular, neglect to attend their stated meetings. The synod, 
on hearing this, admonished Cross. Gilbert Tennent was not 
present. The synod, esteeming the act to be of the greatest 
moment and importance, exhorted the presbyteries to an exact 
compliance with all parts of it; and they also exhorted all to 
take due care that they who receive baptism, for themselves 
or their children, are of a regular life and have suitable ac- 
quaintance with the principles of the Christian religion ; that 
that seal be not set to a blank, and that those who are mani- 
festly unfit be not admitted to a visible church relation. ';. 

East Jersey Presbytery was nearly equally divided in senti- 
ment; and, at the end of three years, they were divided by 
setting off Cross, Wales, the two brothers Tennents, and Blair, 
into a separate body, with the name of New Brunswick Presby- 

* They also directed them "to be as much in catechetical doctrine as possible." 



PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH IN AMERICA. 137 

tery. However kindly intended, this was the immediate and 
main cause of rending the church. 

The meeting in 1735 was large ; the case of Hemphill having 
drawn thirty ministers and sixteen elders. The instance of 
Hemphill, and "some other considerations to the like purpose," 
secured the adoption of five new rules: — 

1. That the moderator of each presbytery and two ministers 
be a committee to examine the credentials of every European 
minister or probationer, and that he do not preach in any 
vara i it congregation till he subscribe the "Westminster Con- 
fession, and satisfy them of his firm attachment to it. 

2. That no call be presented to such person till he has 
preached half a year in our bounds. 

3. That all calls shall be moderated by a minister appointed 
by the presbytery under whose care the congregation is. 

4. That no student shall be taken on trials till he give most 
of the members of the presbytery opportunity, at their houses, 
"to take a view of his parts and behaviour." 

5. That no minister ordained in Ireland, sine tHulo, shall be 
allowed to exercise his ministry among us, till he submit to 
BUGJh trials as the presbytery in which he resides may 
appoint 

As early as 1735, the synod blamed John Cross for re- 
moving, without the concurrence of his presbytery, from one 
Congregation to another. It is not known whether any similar 
had occurred; but, in 1737, fears were expressed that 
irregular Bteps might be taken to effect the- transporting of 
ministers from one presbytery to another. Five more rules 
vrere therefore adopted in relation to candidates fbr settlement: — 
1. No probationer is to preach to B vacant congregation with- 
out the consent of hie own presbytery. 2. Nor to a vacancy 
in another presbytery without the appointment of the presby- 
tery under whose care it is. .''». That do presbytery make 
Buch appointmenl tor him unless he has credentials or recom* 
mediations from his own presbytery, 4. That vacancies en- 
courage aone to j. reach among them without the concurrence 
of presbytery. 5. That do minister invite probationers or 
ministers to BUpply vacancies without the advice and concur- 
rence of his brethren. 

As might hav.- 1m, M expected, these tulefi were broken, 



138 WEBSTER'S HISTORY OF THE 

some ministers and probationers having gone out of their 
bounds and preached, as candidates, without allowance asked 
or given. Who these persons were is unknown. The rule 
was adopted that if a minister, leaving his own presbytery to 
preach to a vacancy, is informed, by a minister of the presby- 
tery into the bounds of which he has come, that he thinks his 
preaching will tend to divide or disturb the congregation, he 
shall not preach till the presbytery or synod allow him. An 
explanation was added, that, if he has already obtained leave 
of the presbytery, then he need not regard the advice. 

The same year, th'e Presbytery of Lewes introduced an 
overture, which, though most kindly meant, and in itself 
most wise, became an occasion of dissension, wrath, and 
confusion. Poverty preventing our students from going to 
Europe or New England for a university education, they 
proposed that the synod should appoint a committee, before 
which all students, with or without diplomas, should appear 
and be examined, and, if approved, receive a synodical testi- 
monial ; and that this, when they offered themselves to their 
presbytery, should be accepted as equal to a degree in the 
arts. Nothing but attendance was to be required ; no fee or 
gratuity of any kind. The synod, by a great majority, 
adopted the plan, and for that year appointed two committees, 
— the one north of Philadelphia, consisting of Andrews, 
Robert Cross, G. Tennent, Pemberton, Dickinson, Cowell, 
and Pierson ; the other, of Thomson, Gillespie, T. Evans, 
Hook, Anderson, Martin, and Alison. There were twenty- 
eight ministers present and sixteen elders. It is to be ob- 
served that, in the committees, the three Presbyteries of New- 
castle, New York, and Philadelphia were represented by three 
members, Lewes and Donegal by two, and New Brunswick 
by one. Why some other member of the last body was not 
substituted for Cowell, one of the youngest members of Phila- 
delphia Presbytery, is only to be guessed. Probably the 
majority chose to testify their regard for him, seeing he had 
been so rudely assailed and so bitterly inveighed against by 
Gilbert Tennent, by letter and before synod. 

The proposal, to require candidates to exhibit a diploma 
before they were taken on trial, was simply conforming to 
the Westminster Directory. It was the uniform practice of 



PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH IX AMERICA. 139 

the Synod of Ulster and the Scottish Kirk. "The synod* 
came to a public agreement to take alt private schools, in 
which young men are educated for the ministry, so far under 
their care, as to appoint a committee to examine all such as 
had not obtained degrees in the European or Xew England 
colleges, and to give them a certificate which was to serve our 
presbyteries instead of a diploma." No objection appears to 
have been made at the time to this method ; no dissent was 
entered ; but, in 1739, the New Brunswick Presbytery, having 
disregarded it, brought in their apology t for dissenting from two 
acts or new religious laws passed at the last session of synod. 
The whole ground is gone over of the wrongfulness of the 

in precisely the mode, and nearly the language, of the 

Ligbt Brethren of Antrim; and might have been adopted 
for a manifesto by the Friendly Society of Belfast. It ex- 
declares that it is a false hypothesis that the majority 
of any church judicatory has a power committed to them by 
Christ to make new rules about religious matters, which shall 
he Mi, ding on those who conscientiously dissent from them ; 

though the majority judge the rules to be not against 
but agreeable to the word and serviceable to religion. This 
would include every law made by session, presbytery, or 
synod. It militated as strongly against the requirement of 

ription to the Westminster Confession, or of classical 
learning in candidates, as against the two acts it aimed at. 
"It isf heterodox and anarchical, and plainly contradicts the 
thirty-first article, third section, of the Confession of Faith." 
1? denied thai any church courl has power to make rules 
about expedients and prudentials. The Irish Synod declared, 
in 1725, thai those who made this denial were deserving of 
exclusion from the privileges of membership in their body. 

A day was -pent in debate on the objections ; the act was 
reaffirmed, except thai the examination was to be before 
the whole synod or its commission. There were thirty-two 
ministers in attendance and eighteen elders, — all men of 
weight, age, and experience. On the decision of the matter, 
Gilbert Tennent cried oul thai it was to prevent his father's 



; Philadelphia to Um Rector of Trie, 1746. 

; 1711. 



140 Webster's history of the 

school from training gracious men for the ministry. He pro- 
tested ; his father, his two brothers, his two co-presbyters, his 
elder, David Chambers, his brother Charles's elder, William 
McCrea, Thomas Worthington,* and John Weir, elders, joined 
in the protest. 

It is curious to notice that the synod's act, as remodelled, is 
identical with the course pursued by the Synod of Ulster for 
the last thirty years, as a preventive to the entrance of Arian 
or unlearned preachers into her communion. The opposition 
to the act in its new form was as fiery as at first. The protest 
was the third which had been presented since the formation 
of Philadelphia Presbytery. 

Personal rancour appears to have operated strongly on the 
minority. They regarded the act as bearing solely on the 
Presbytery of New Brunswick, depriving them of the power 
of taking up whatever candidates they pleased, and, in effect, 
closing every door of entrance against all whom the majority 
of synod did not approve. The protesters demanded the power 
of imposing on the synod whatever persons they pleased. 

The act about vacancies was remodelled, no one objecting. 
"When the preaching of a minister from another presbytery 
seemed to cause divisions or hinder the settlement of a minis- 
tr}-, complaint was to be made to the presbytery, and the 
minister was to appear and abide by their decision. 

The Presbytery of New Brunswick had not only objected 
to the synod's acts, but had taken Rowland on trials, and 
licensed him and sent him to preach to a vacancy in Philadel- 
phia Presbytery. The synod did not command them to 
revoke his license, but simply censured their action, and deter- 
mined not to admit Rowland as a preacher in their bounds 
until he should submit to the requirements of the act. [In a 
similar spirit, and for the preservation of order and discipline, 
the] Synod of Ulster [had] directed that if any judicatory 
reversed or disregarded the acts of the court above, the mode- 
rator and clerk in office at the time of the offence should be 
suspended from their ministerial functions during the pleasure 
of the next higher authority. 



* Probably from Upper Marlborough, who died March, 1753, aged 63, — five miles 
from Annapolis. 



PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH IN AMERICA. 141 

The synod then decided the difficulty between Tennent and 
Cowell, apparently to the mutual satisfaction of the parties. 

The project of a school or seminary was approved, and it 
was resolved to send home to Great Britain, to prosecute the 
affair, either Pemberton and Dickinson, or Anderson and 
Robert Cross. The commission met in August to deliberate 
and proceed, but, discouraged by the small attendance, did 
nothing. Colman sent them the promise of aid from Boston ; 
but the breaking out of the Spanish war closed up all hope of 
aid from Europe. No answer appears to have been sent from 
the Church of Scotland. 

There was an overture presented from Thomas Evans; but 
the contents are not known, nor whether it bore on the points 
in dispute. 

This was an eventful juncture. The revival was in pro- 
: Freehold* Hopewell, New Brunswick, Baskingridge, 
and Newark had received the heavenly gift, and from the 
easi end of Long Island came tidings of "gracious communi- 
cations from God." 

The arrival of YVhitetield was looked for. His way had been 
prepared by the publication of his journals and his sermons, 
and by highly-coloured and ilattering newspaper notices. He 
reached Philadelphia in Xovember, 1739, with Seward, his 
affluent and munificent friend, and a company of persons for 
the Orphan-house. lie brought a cargo of goods to be sold 
for the benefit of the institution, and hired a house, exposed 
them for sale, and advertised them in tlhe city prints, lie 
ram-- as a gentleman, and lived as one who was the associate 
of the gentry and had friends among the nobility. Franklin 
how much the people in his day looked up to an "Old 
England man." The distinction of ranks was kept up in the 
colonies with the precision and etiquette of a German prin- 
cipality of four miles Bquare. The sermons on Regeneration 
and the Almost Christian gained many hearts for him, and 
hi- captivating eloquence won many more, lie was then* of 
middle Btature, Blender body, fair complexion, comely appear- 
ance, and extremely bashful and modest. 

Mu'h had been published against him in England, and had 

* (fowtptper account. 



142 Webster's history of the 

found its way hither. " The Trial of Mr. Whitefield's Spirit" 
is an ingenious and ahle twisting of all his unwise expressions 
to his disadvantage. The Bishop of London's pastoral letter 
met the approbation of Dr. "Watts, who could not help saying, 
"I wish* Mr. "VVhitefield had not risen above any pretence 
to the ordinary influence of the Spirit, unless he could have 
given better evidences of it. He has acknowledged to me 
that it was such an impression on his mind that he knows it 
to be divine, though he cannot give me any convincing proof 
of it." The bishop replied, very justly, " From the time that 
men imagine themselves singled out by God for extraordinary 
purposes, and, in consequence of that, to be guided by extra- 
ordinary impulses and operations, all human advice is lost 
upon them." The Dissenters in England were not cordial to 
him, having been denounced by him as banded formalists. 
On the other hand, the Erskines admired him and loved him, 
and wrote to him to come to them in Scotland. 

In Philadelphia, all the churches were thrown open to him, 
and in the evenings he preached from the balcony of the 
court-house. Gilbert Tennent came to him ; his preaching 
powerfully influenced Whitefield, so that he came under 
Tennent's control, drank of his spirit, and spoke his words. 

He proceeded in company with him to New York, having 
been invited thither by Thomas Noble, a wealthy merchant, 
whose acquaintance he had made in England. The commissary 
refused him the church, — the court-house was shut against 
him ; he preached in the fields on Sabbath afternoon and in 
the Presbyterian meeting-house in the evening. Through 
the week he preached twice or thrice daily in the city. He 
treated Pembertou as a novice, a dauber, having readily 
taken Tennent's suspicion for the truth. This conduct he 
soon deeply regretted, and wrote to Pembertou, f expressing 
his contrition. New York was under a universal concern ; 
so was Philadelphia. 

Returning, he preached for Dickinson, at Elizabethtown ; 
for Tennent, at New Brunswick, and at Maidenhead, Burling- 
ton, and Abington. Treat, of Abington, and Campbell, of 
Tehicken, gave up their hope in Christ, and mourned as self- 

* Philips's Life of Wliitcfield. f Whitefield's Letters 



PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH IX AMERICA. 143 

deceivers and soul-murderers. " God blessed the word won- 
derfully at Philadelphia. I have great reason to think many 
are brought home to God." 

"It is not to be expressed with what great crowds he was 
followed." The writer liked not his doctrine, "yet could not 
but admire to see what a command he had of the attention 
and the affections of the audience. His delivery was warm 
and affectionate, and his gestures natural and the most beau- 
tiful imaginable."* 

Franklin attended his sermons, with an enormous multi- 
tude of all sects. "It wasf matter of speculation to me to 
observe the extraordinary influence of his oratory on his 
hearers, ami how much they admired and respected him, 
notwithstanding his common abuse of them, by asserting 
that naturally they were half beast and half devil. From 
being thoughtless or indifferent about religion, it seemed as 
if all the world were growing religious, so that one could 
not walk through the town of an evening without hearing 
pealma sung in different families in every street, lie had 
a loud and clear voice, and artieulated his words so per- 
fectly that he might be heard and understood at a great 
distance, especially as his auditories observed the most per- 
ilence. I computed that he might well be heard by 
thirty thousand." 

What were the sources of Whitefield's power? "Neither^ 
energy, nor eloquence, nor histrionic talents, nor any artifices 

of Style, nor the most genuine sincerity and self-dcvoted- 

. nor all these united, could have enabled him to mould 
the religious character of millions of his own ami future 
Ettious. The secret !i<-.- deeper, though not very deep. 
It consisted in the nature of the theology he taught, — its per- 
mit simplicity ami universal application. Man i- guilty, and 
maj obtain forgiveness j man is immortal, ami must ripen 
hen fox endless weal or wo hereafter. Expanded into innu- 
merable forms, and diversified by infinite varieties of appli- 
cation, the.-.- two cardinal principles u- lever in his heart and 

on his tongue. Lei who would invoke poetry to embellish 

'. y..vk uvipipm -f ilea .int.-. f Fnnkltn'i Autobiography. 

; B dh rt wrgb Review; uHele, "Pbilipe'f Whitefleld." 



144 Webster's history of the 

the Christian system, or philosophy to explore its esoteric 
depths; from his lips it was delivered as an awful, urgent 
summons to repent, believe, and obey. In fine, he was 
thoroughly and continually in earnest, and, therefore, pos- 
sessed that tension of soul which admitted d either of lassi- 
tude or relaxation, few and familiar as were the topics to 
which he was confined. His was, therefore, precisely the 
state of mind in which alone eloquence, properly so called, 
can be engendered, and a moral and intellectual sovereignty 
won." 

What Whitefield saw in Philadelphia satisfied him of the 
degeneracy of the ministry and the lack of piety in the 
churches. On slight evidence, he was convinced of the want 
of spirituality in preachers and hearers. Tennent's testimony 
was doubtless the foundation, or at least the strongly-predis- 
posing inducement, to take up at once so harsh and unwar- 
rantable a judgment. He fancied that "he saw not as man 
seeth :" faith in his own insight into secrets of the heart was 
his besetting sin. 

The cargo being sold, he purchased a vessel, and sent his 
people by sea to Georgia, while he and Seward journeyed by 
land. His stay in Philadelphia was of less than a month's 
continuance; yet the change was so great that there was reli- 
gious service every day for a year after, and three times on 
the Sabbath. No less than twenty-six associations for prayer 
were formed. Ten thousand assembled on Society Hill* to 
hear his last sermon. A thousand persons accompanied him 
out of Philadelphia. The judges at Chester sent him word 
they would defer the court till after the sermon. The 
church being too small, the church minister erected a plat- 
form, and he preached to seven thousand. At Wilmington 
he preached twice to five thousand ; at Newcastle to two 
thousand five hundred; at Christiana Bridge to three thou- 
sand; and on Sabbath, at White Clay, to eight thousand. On 
Monday he preached at North East. 

At Annapolis the governor treated him courteously, and 



* Where the Third Church now stands, in Pine Street ; so called from the land 
having been owned by the " Society of Free Traders." — Watson's Annals. 



PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH IN AMERICA. 145 

attended: the church minister* was under couvictions, wept 
twice, and begged his prayers. "Meeting with no opposition, 
he was ready to cry out, Satan, why sleepest thou?" 

He reached Williamsburg, Virginia, December 15 ; not 
having met with an almost Christian since leaving Delaware, 
till, at Captain Whiting's, he saw a planter striving to know 
the way of God more perfectly. The governor, and Mr. Blair, 
the commissary, were attentive and polite, and were among 
his hearers. At New Bern, North Carolina, there was " an 
uncommon influence" accompanying the word ; at Newton, 
on Cape Fear, lately settled from Scotland, his labours were 
not without effect. 

He published a journal of what God had done in Maryland 
and Virginia. From Georgia he wrote; and Franklin pub- 
lished two letters on Archbishop Tillotson's Right to be called 
a Christian, and asserting that Mohammed has a better title to 
tlic name. Soon followed his letter to the planters on the 
subject of their slaves, and expressing his belief that God had 
a quarrel with them for their unworthy usage of them. 

In the middle of April he arrived at Newcastle; and, it 
being the Lord's day, he preached twice, and on Monday, at 
Wilmington, to three thousand, and went to Philadelphia. 
The bishop's commissary, following the example of Dr. Gar- 
den at Charleston, closed the churches against him. lie 
preached in the open air and in the meeting-houses of the 
Baptists and the Presbyterians. On Tuesday eight thousand 

were present on Society Hill; Wednesday he preached twice 
in the city; Thursday at Abingdon and Society Hill; Friday 
at White Marsh ami Qermantown; on Saturday and Sabbath 
at Philadelphia; on Monday al Greenwich and Gloucester; 

on Tuesday in the city; Wednesday at Neshaminy; and on 
Thursday ;it Skippack, where the famous Mr. Spalemburg 
(Spangenburg?) had resided. Peter Boehler followed the ser- 
mon with an ezhoitatiOD in < lerman. 

The mwt day — rising at three, and riding fifty miles — he 

preached at Amwell to five thousand, "with the Bame power 
as usual." Gilbert Tennent, Wales, Rowland, and Campbell, 
u four godly ministers, met ua here." Saturday and Sabbath 



* WhiftdMd'a Letters. 
10 



146 Webster's history of the 

lie preached at New Brunswick, seven thousand being pre- 
sent. On Monday he preached at Woodbridge and Elizabeth- 
town, and remained in New York from Tuesday till the Sab- 
bath. Since his former visit the society had increased from 
seventy to one hundred and seventy. " The word ran." 

On Monday he preached on Staten Island. Going to New 
York, he had the company of the Rev. Jonathan Arnold, a 
graduate of Yale, who had conformed, and was then the 
society's itinerant missionary. They discoursed on regenera- 
tion; and Arnold* hearing afterwards that "Whitefield had 
represented him as knowing nothing of religion, he wrote to 
Whitefield's diocesan, the Bishop of Gloucester. His lord- 
shipf replied, that he had for some time refused to see 
Whitefield, or " answer his letters, though he was very 
obliging." 

Tuesday he preached at Freehold and Allentown ; "Wednes- 
day at Bristol ; Thursday in Philadelphia, — " things go on 
better and better, only Satan begins to cast some into fits ;" 
Friday at the ancient Baptist church in Pennepek ; Saturday 
and Sabbath at Philadelphia ; Monday at Darby and Chester, 
— the people having been crossing the ferry as fast as two 
boats could carry them since three in the morning ; Tuesday, 
"Wilmington and White Clay ; Wednesday at Nottingham. 

Gilbert Tennent had preached there, on the 8th of March, 
his sermon on "An Unconverted Ministry." Cross, being 
denied the use of the meeting-house, had preached in the 
woods, amid amazing manifestations of distress. Whitefield 
had not spoken long when he perceived numbers melting. 
"As I proceeded, the influence increased, till at last, both in 
the morning and the afternoon, thousands cried out so as 
almost to drown my voice. Oh, what strong cryings and 
tears were poured forth after the dear Lord Jesus ! Some 
fainted ; and, when they got a little strength, would hear and 
faint again. Others cried out almost as if they were in the 



* He insisted — at the house of Mr. Smith, in New York, " after a plentiful sup- 
per of wild fowl" — on examining Whitefield on his experience. This involved him 
in a newspaper controversy with Mr Smith, which was reprinted in the Philadel- 
phia papers. 

f New York Gazette. 



PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH IN AMERICA. 147 

sharpest agonies of death. After I had finished my last dis- 
course, I was so overpowered with a sense of God's love that 
it almost took away my life." 

The next day he preached at Fagg's Manor. The revival 
had recently began under Blair. "Look where I would, 
most were drowned in tears. The 'word was sharper than 
a two-edged sword.' Their hitter cries and tears were 
enough to pierce the hardest heart. Oh, what different 
visages were then to be seen ! Some were struck as pale as 
death, — others lying on the ground, — others wringing their 
hands, — others sinking into the arms of their friends, — and 
most lifting up their eyes to heaven and crying out to God 
for mercy. I could think of nothing when I looked at them 
so much as the great day. They seemed like persons awak- 
ened by the last trump and coming out of their graves to 
judgment." Twelve thousand were present. The Rev. 
.lames Anderson, of Donegal, was present, and as soon as 
rvioe ended, "furiously pressed," says Blair, in his Reply 
to The Querists, "to the stand, to reason with Whitefield con- 
cerning his mode of procedure. His request was denied." 

Whitefield then proceeded to Reedy Island, in Delaware, and 
Bailed lor Charleston before the meeting of synod. He said, 
M The war between Michael and the dragon has much increased. 
Blessed be God, the devil's children begin to throw off the 
mask ! I want to draw the lingering battle on." 

" I could not help recommending these men* in the strong- 
est manner wherever 1 went, because I saw they gloried in the 

er^s- of ( "hrist." 

The synod met May 28. The attendance of ministers and 

elders was v.-ry large. It was a critical time; New Bruns- 
wick Presbytery having assumed ground wholly untenable om 
any scriptun] principle and subversive of all Presbyterian 
government, — and, indeed, of all ecclesiastical and civil Bub- 
ordination, — and having, in defiance, taken Finley on trial, 
licensed Robinson and McCrea, and ordained Rowland. The 
strangest ox o o ss of) in outcries in worship, — the most violent 

denunciations Of all who "followed OOl U8" — the most fla- 
grant errors concerning the witness of the Spirit, imparting 

* Tennent, Cross, Blair, and Rowland. 



148 Webster's history of the 

immediate knowledge of our acceptance with God, and of the 
hearts of others, and of our duty in every conceivable in- 
stance, — startled and shocked all who were not wholly carried 
away with them. All the intervals of synod were spent by 
the "New Side" in preaching: there were fourteen sermons 
during the week on Society Hill, besides several in the Bap- 
tist church. Davenport and Rowland were there. None 
were suffered to preach on the stand who were not of "White- 
field's principles. Dickinson was excluded on this ground, 
he having attacked from the pulpit at Newark the delusion 
concerning the witness of the Spirit. Yet Dickinson said, 
" The alteration* in the face of things is altogether amazing. 
Never did the people show so great a willingness to attend 
sermons, nor the preachers greater zeal and diligence. Re- 
ligion became the subject of most conversation : books of 
devotion were chiefly in demand : psalms and prayers were 
the entertainment which almost superseded all others." 



* Letter to Foxcroft, in Christian History. 



PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH IN AMERICA. 149 



CHAPTER VI. 

Pierson was chosen moderator, and Treat, who had recently 
resumed his ministry, clerk. 

At the first morning session,* upon reading the last year's 
minutes, a paper was brought in and read, of proposals to 
accommodate the difference about the trials of candidates. A 
copy of it was given to each party. On proceeding to consider 
it on the afternoon of the next day, the protesting brethren 
declared their dissatisfaction with the plan. This was pro- 
bably the plan of Dickinson, and it was in the largest sense 
courteous and conciliating. The majority, though denounced 
Bfl enemies of the revival, being of a far different temper, 
sought to heal the church's wounds, and agreed to submit a 
Statement of the matter, drawn by mutual consent, either to 
the highest church courts in Scotland or Ireland, or to the 
associated divines of London or Boston, and obtain their 
judgment or advice. The protesters refused to concur, be- 
lt would be difficult to frame a representation which 
both parties could adopt; because they did not need the ad- 
vice of any body <'f men, seeing the Lord smiled on their 
; and because most of those whose judgment was de- 
sired were incompetent, as they averred, to give advice of any 
value; being dead formalists, with religion decaying under 
their ministrations. 

The synod, .-till desiring that this unhappy difference might 
be accommodated, recommend that each brother consider 
some further expedient, and, if possible, bring it in at the 
next sederunt An overture with this intent was offered next 

* Preface and Appandii to Protestation. 
Qilberl Tonnent'i Remarks on the Protestation. 

Rumination tad Refutation of Mr. <;. Tennent'e Remarks on the Protestation, 
and "ii if- profane and sppendiz. By some memben ■ the synod, pa order. 

UuutcU largely bj Di I 



150 Webster's history of the 

morning, but was rejected by the minority, the stumbling 
block being, whether the synod is the proper judge of the 
qualifications of its members, or whether each presbytery 
may force upon it whom they please. 

The uncomfortable debate was resumed, and was ended by 
a vote to continue the rule for the present. The protest 
was renewed, John Cross and Alexander Creaghead joining 
in it, and the following elders : — Robert Cumming, of Free- 
hold, James Cochran, of Fagg's Manor, Richard Walker, of 
Neshaminy, Daniel Henderson, of Forks of Brandywine, John 
Henry, of Lamington, William Emmitt, of White Clay, James 
Miller, James McCoy, Robert Matthews, Joseph Steel, and 
Hugh Lyon or Lynn. Gillespie and Hutcheson desired their 
dissent to be entered. 

The next morning, an overture explanatory of the acts con- 
cerning intrusions and candidates was offered. It contem- 
plated a declaration that the synod do heartily rejoice in the 
labours of the ministry in other places besides their own par- 
ticular charge, and, as a proof of this, repeal the act on intru- 
sions. It went so far as to propose that those who are licensed 
and ordained in violation of the act shall be regarded as 
gospel ministers, although we cannot admit them to be mem- 
bers of synod until they submit to our rule ; because we think 
that rule needful to be insisted on, for the well-being of this 
part of Christ's church. This act was not adopted, although 
Dr. Hodge says, (vol. i. 253,) " they passed the explanatory de- 
claration," and, (p. 248) "because the act was misinterpreted, 
they agreed to repeal it," and (vol. ii. 142) a general anxiety 
was felt to have the difficulty arranged, and the act was re- 
pealed. This mistake grew out of the insertion of the paper 
on the records, it being a thing rarely done in the case of a 
rejected minute. Mr. Tracy* adds, "A minute was adopted 
acknowledging a work of grace in the land, and giving thanks 
for it." An inspection of the printed record shows this to be 
an error. 

On the introduction of this explanatory overture, two expe- 
dients for peace were offered, and, after some consideration, 
they were deferred till the afternoon. One of them was from 

* Great Awakening. 



PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH IN AMERICA. 151 

a member of New Brunswick Presbyter}-, suggesting, tbat 
synodical committees of two ministers attend each presbytery 
when engaged in examining candidates, and should accuse the 
presbytery to the synod if they saw cause. But, when asked 
if they would defer the trials on the committee's objecting 
and refer the matter to the synod, the protesters frankly 
replied they would not. 

Gillespie prepared the other. A fair copy of the trials of 
each candidate should be produced by the presbytery when 
they were to be admitted to membership in the synod. Dick- 
inson asked, Would the protesters, if the synod saw or thought 
they saw insufficiency in the reported trials, submit the candi- 
date to the synod for examination or censure ? Gilbert Ten- 
nent said they might censure the presbytery, but that the can- 
didates should not be produced to the synod, however de- 
fective they might judge the trials to be. 

It being evident that nothing but submission to their will 
would satisfy hixn and his adherents, the synod passed to 
other business, no vote being asked for on these well-meant 
expedients. The majority made great concessions, yet Mere 
stigmatized as still', pert, and arrogant, because they did not 
sacrifice their own convictions, and abandon what they con- 
ci-ived to 1)0 necessary defences. Tennent insisted that each 
presbytery should be a sovereignty, with a private mint to 
put the guinea-stamp on pieces of such weight and such 
alh.y &g it chose, and to circulate them through the domi- 
nions <>t' the synod currently, and as of equal value with the 
standard coin. The synod w%a disrobed of all its dignity, 

and each presbytery was at liberty to disregard and annul its 

decn 

Tie- further consideration of the explanatory overture was 
deferred. What action might have been taken on it, or 

what good might, have resulted from its adoption, was lost 

sight <>f in the amaaement) sorrow, and indignation caused 
by an ttnpfeoedenHed measure of Gilbert Tennent and 
Samuel Blair. 

Tennenl ajked for an interloquitur, — a secret session, in- 
formal, and from which it is believed even the elders were 
excluded. The design of it was to prepare business and to 
understand each other's views, before introducing affairs of 



152 Webster's history of the 

moment on the floor of synod. It being the closing after- 
noon session, the synod declined to go into an interloquitur, 
and directed Tennent to proceed with whatever he had to 
offer. The house was full. The great multitude which had 
been attending on the preaching of Tennent, Blair, Rowland, 
Cross, Creaghead, and Davenport twice a day for a week, 
came up with highly- excited feelings. They were fully pre- 
pared to sanction Tennent's course, and to go far beyond. 

Tennent then read a paper, and Samuel Blair followed with 
a like representation of their view of the state of the ministry. 
There was no concert between them. Each, unknown to the 
other, had drawn a most appalling picture ;* and we wonder 
why they did not conclude by declaring that they could not 
sit in synodical union with men whom they believed, and told 
to their faces, even weeping, that they were enemies of the 
cross of Christ. ~No attempt was made to interrupt them ; 
but, when the reading was finished, they were earnestly 
entreated to spare no man in the synod whom they could 
prove unsound in doctrine or immoral in practice ; to take 
Christ's method, and not condemn the innocent with the 
guilty. They then offered to prove the matters of charge 
against particular members, if the synod required it. The 
majority declined to institute process on Tennent's and Blair's 
statements, and urged that they should proceed in a regular 
way by tabling charges against particular persons. Both 
Blair and Tennent admitted they had never spoken with the 
persons they aimed at, or made any regular inquiry into the 
truth of the reports they had credited. 

With amazing moderation, the following minute was 
adopted : — 

"Mr. Blair and Mr. Gilbert Tennent representing many 
defects in our ministry that are matters of greatest lamenta- 
tion if chargeable on our members: the synod do, therefore, 
solemnly admonish all the ministers in our bounds seriously 
to consider the weight of their charge, and, as they will answer 
it at the great day of Christ, to take care to approve them- 
selves to God in the instances complained of. And the pres- 

* Neither of these papers have I seen. They are quoted by Dr. Hodge at much 
length. 



PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH IN AMERICA. 153 

byteries are recommended to take care of their members in 
these particulars." 

Having readily granted the request of Newtown and Tini- 
cum to be placed under the care of New Brunswick Presby- 
tery, they adjourned till the next year. 

The minute is scarcely such as would have been expected 
from a body in which the immense majority was stigmatized 
as bitter enemies to heart-religion. Yet there were no less 
than seventeen ministers who were so styled, six who 
scarcely escaped the like reproach, and, at the most, eight 
ministers only who could listen with patience to the unwar- 
rantable language of Tennent and Blair. 

The elders were more equally divided; thirteen being with 
the majority and eleven with the protesters. 

Why tla-y were not rebuked or suspended for their repre- 
sentations, is difficult to conceive. The New Haven Association 
deposed the Rev, Timothy Allen, for saying, that the reading 
of the Scriptures could no more convert a sinner than the read- 
ing of an old almanac. Yale College denied Brainerd his 
te, for having asserted, that the chair on which he leaned 
was its pious as his tutor ; and expelled the Rev. John Cleve- 
land, of Chebaceo, and his brother, because they had wor- 
shipped with the Separate Church, of which their parents 
were members. The rector justified this last measure in the 
newspapers. They were expelled for being followers of the 
Paines, — two lay exhorters, whose corrupt principles and per* 
nicioufl practices are set forth in the declaration of the lninis- 
f Windham county. The moderation in the case only 
secured for the majority the unenviable reputation of being 
• • hypocrites, dumb dogs/' who would not bark when 
beaten. It is only to be acoonnted for on the supposition of 
wisdom, piety, meekness, and forbearance on their part, to- 
gether with greal tenderness toward honoured but misguided 
brethren, and an unwillingness even to seem to oppose good 
men, zealously labouring and with remarkable success. They 
submitted to the rebuke of the righteous, as though il were 
a refreshing anointing rather than a deadly Mow. It te a 
spectacle worthy to be contemplated. The members against 
whom Tennenl and Blair testified were respectable for their 
►er, age, long-tried fidelity, and admitted ability. It is 



154 WEBSTER'S HISTORY OF THE 

common to suppose that Dickinson and his co-presbyters en- 
joyed the high esteem of Tennent at the time: yet he would 
not suffer him to preach on Society Hill, because he was not 
of Whitefield's principles. One of the oldest and most distant 
members, Hugh Conn, was present, after an absence of 
eight years. Anderson and Houston were there for the last 
time, their earthly career being finished before the next synod. 
Who of the majority merited these castigations ? It is true 
we have the testimony of the friends of the revival against 
them ; but we have other testimony in their favour and quite 
as unexceptionable. Robert Cross is charged with having 
preached little of an experimental or awakening character in 
Philadelphia ; yet he left behind him at Jamaica* a precious 
memory of his faithfulness. 

Happily, Tennent lived long enough to lament the breach 
of that day, and to testify in favour of the men whom he had 
trodden down as mire in the streets. Tradition has sadly 
confused matters, and given all the credit for zeal and warm 
piety to the New Englanders and South Britons ; but in the 
pamphlets of that day not a syllable to that effect is breathed. 
Neither the New England divines of that generation nor their 
people experienced such lenity or favour from Whitefield or 
his votaries. 

The synod adjourned without a rupture ; but in what sense 
were the two parties united in one body? The protesters had 
no faith in the piety of the opposite side, and no respect for 
their judgment. The New Brunswick Presbytery renounced 
the jurisdiction of the synod, when it was not satisfied with its 
decisions. The old side must have gone to shameful lengths 
in recrimination, if they returned the tithe, in kind, of the 
reproachful, unchristian attacks of the Nottingham sermon. 

They parted, but not to lay down their weapons. The 
Nottingham sermon issued from the press at Boston and Phila- 
delphia, and the representations of Blair and Tennent were 
both published. Tennent also proceeded to evangelize in 
"West Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Maryland. 

The commission met on the adjournment of the synod, and 
referred to the next synod the application of " a party in 

* Macdonald's History of Jamaica. 



PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH IN AMERICA. lS| 

Nottingham" to be dismissed from Donegal Presbytery. New 
Brunswick Presbytery soon after licensed Samuel Finley; and 
he went to supply "the party" who set forward the building 
of a meeting-house at the Rising Sun, separated from the Old 
Church only by the highway. 

While at Charleston, "Whitefield was written to by Dr. 
Colman and Mr. Cooper, in the name of the associated minis- 
ters, to come to Boston. The letters of the Rev. Josiah Smith 
to Colman, in favour of Whitefield, had been fully confirmed 
by Pemberton, of New York. There was a general anxiety 
through New England to hear him, and the Boston ministers 
took the lead in pressing him to come. He sailed for Rhode 
Island ; and while there he received a letter from Jonathan 
Barber,* one of the "young ministers on Long Island, who 
had great communications from God." In it, he used to 
"Whitefield, the language of the centurion to the Saviour: — 
" I thought myself not worthy to come unto thee." 

This pleased "Whitefield ; and he published it, with the 
feet that Barber had waited a fortnight for him under an 
a-- u ranee of seeing him, from having these words impressed 
Upon him: — "Is not Aaron thy brother? I know that he 
can speak well. Behold, he cometh forth to meet thee; and 
when he seeth thee, he will be glad in his heart." Like the 
eagle, he famished many a feather besides this, towing arrows 
against himself and against the cause of Christ. This interview 
decided him to place Barber at the head of the Orphan-house 
in Georgia, — a step which prejudiced many against him; for 
Barber was generally considered a kind of Quaker, guided by 
his own whimsejB and impressions as implicitly as if they 
were the won! of (Jod. Yet he whs doubtless a Worthy, good 
man, of great excellence and piety, being beloved and ho- 
noured by Bnel and the best men of his tune. Tin' exagge- 
rations of Chauncy and like spirits are too commonly relied 
on, to ihc great injury of a devoted servant of Jesus. The 
ehatl'has been can-fully garnered by the accusers of the breth- 
ren, and no rOOOrd has lion made below the Bkics, of the 
bll&dredfbld Of gOOd seed, brought, forth by the word in his 
heart, and long ago stored away by the Lord of the harvest 

* Whitefield'u Journals. 



156 Webster's history of the 

Colman wrote down Lis first impressions of Whitefield. 
Happily, the notes remain. The opinion of such a man is 
truly valuable. " His holy fervour of devotion in prayer and 
of address to the souls of his hearers in preaching was such 
as we had never before seen or heard. My esteem for him 
was sincere and great." 

Governor Belcher showed him every honour, and besought 
him, with tears, not to spare ministers or magistrates, but to 
rebuke openly their degeneracy. The language of such a 
man must have inflated any minister of twenty-seven years 
of age to an amazing degree. Whitefield's previous conduct 
afforded melancholy proof that he needed a wise reprover. 
Edwards, at Northampton, ventured, as Watts had done at 
the outset, on this necessary but unwelcome duty. 

He cautioned him against pronouncing persons to be un- 
converted, and against giving way to every motion of his soul 
as if of divine origin. The impression left on Edwards was 
that Whitefield was not altogether pleased with the counsel; 
but he seems to have adopted it. 

At Boston, the Bishop of London's commissary and his 
clergy were civil, when he called. One of them began with 
him for calling "that Tennent" and his brethren faithful 
ministers of Christ. They questioned the validity of Presby- 
terian ordination, and quoted Whitefield's words against him- 
self, and said that when Wesley was there, he was strenuous 
for the church and against all other forms of government. 
The discussion ran on, showing that they had no favour for 
the doctrines he preached. He left them without asking for 
their pulpits. 

The meeting-houses were open to him all along the road he 
travelled. At New Haven, he preached before the governor 
and the legislature, and in the college. At table, he expressed 
himself so as to leave an impression on Mr. Clap, the Rector 
of Yale, that he had concerted with Edwards to bring gra- 
cious youth from Great Britain, to be ordained by New 
Brunswick Presbytery, and to supersede the unconverted 
parish ministers of New England, — an impression, however, 
unfounded, and fitted to rally and marshal a legion against 
the supposed projectors. 

Unusual success attended his preaching at Milford, Strat- 



PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH IX AMERICA. 157 

ford, Fairfield, Xorwalk, and Stamford ; and, at the last place, 
he was visited by several ministers under deep concern. He 
preached at Rye, being kindly entertained by the Episcopal 
minister, and at Kingsbridge, and, on the 30th of October, 
reached New York. 

Davenport was there. He had lately, in two months, seen 
twenty instances of conversion among his people. Barber 
was there, and his marriage was accomplished by Pemberton, 
and followed by Whitefield with a prayer. 

Whitefield preached, and Pemberton never before had seen 
the word fall with such power. At night there was a great dis- 
play of divine power. He spoke with authority; some fainted, 
'-others favouring," shrinking, crying, weeping, on all sides. 
He preached three days. lie was shown two volumes of ser- 
mons, bearing his name, and lately published in London: he 
had never before seen one of them. On seeing the production 
called "The Querists," he remarked, "I have long expected 
opposition: I believe it will increase daily." 

The title of this pamphlet explains its origin: — "The Que- 
rists; or, an Extract of sundry passages taken out of Mr. 'White- 
field's Sermous, Journals, and Letters, together with Borne 
scruples proposed in proper queries raised on each remark; pre- 
vented to Newcastle Presbytery at White Olay Creek. September 
!•, 17-40, by sundry members of the 1'resbyterian persuasion." 
"The presbytery, having maturely considered them, resolved 
that, Mr. Whitefield being expected soon to come again into 

these parts, and as he best understands his own intentions ill 

e leave it to the people to print and him to 
answer them." From this decision Samuel Blair and Charles 
Tennent, with his elder, William AfcOrea, and Hutcheson's 
elder, John Bravado, (or Brevard,) dissented. 

Newcastle Presbytery was small, and nearly equally divided 
into three parts: Thomas Evans, Alison, and Cathcarl being 
on the old side, Blair and Charles Tennenl on the new; Gil- 
lespie and Bntcheson, the Benior members, being dissatisfied 
with bothi Oonn and Orme were bo far off thai they rarely 
attended presbytery, and of course were oo1 of any weight in 
this eventful time. 

At this meeting Gilbert Tennent was present, being on a 
preaching torn-. His representation and Blair'e were called 



158 Webster's history of the 

up, as the synod ordered. They, and Charles Tennent also, 
were most earnestly pressed by the presbytery to spare none 
of them, but to table charges if they could lay to their charge 
any thing unbecoming their office as Christ's ambassadors. 
Gillespie openly entreated them for God's sake to do so. Gil- 
bert Tennent replied that the proposal was matter of surprise 
to him ; that he had no thought of such a thing till it was 
mentioned in the face of the judicatory ; that his meeting with 
them was wholly accidental ; and that for him to enter on a 
judicial process was inconsistent with his design of itinerant 
preaching and the appointments already made. They then 
asked him to leave the matter with them in writing, and that 
they would take it in any way. 

How Blair answered is not mentioned. Charles Tennent* 
was subsequently called to answer for defending some of 
Whitefield's expressions, Whitefield having himself retracted 
them. 

" The Querists" was soon published. Its bitterness was much 
complained of; but its bitterness consisted in doing what Ers- 
kine had done in private letters to Whitefield, and w r hat Watts 
and Edwards had done in conference ; pointing out his errors 
and his inconsistencies with himself no less than with the 
Scriptures. The style is courteous, and the pamphlet is calm, 
judicious, searching, and fair. Whitefield wrote a reply on 
reading it; he thanked them for the opportunity of confessing 
his faults, acknowledged all they had said, and pointed out 
what they had overlooked. He had made the like acknow- 
ledgment to Erskine. His friends said, " The excellent meek- 
ness of his answer to The Querists will honour him much." 
Whitefield suspected it was the w^ork of a minister, and many 
attributed it to Thomas Evans, of Pencader. He said, " If this 
be the work of the ministers put forth in the name of the 
people, they have not acted simply with me." He absolutely 
denied the doctrine of Universal Redemption, which they sup- 
posed him to hold. 

He persuaded Gilbert Tennent to go to Boston, to water 
what he had sown ; and, with the concurrence of the neighbour- 
ing ministers, he consented to go and "blow up the divine 

* Philadelphia papers of that date contain his explanation of his conduct. 



PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH IN AMERICA. 159 

fire lately kindled there, although his cold constitution of 
body poorly fitted him to endure the northern gusts." 

"Whitefield was accompanied to Philadelphia by Davenport, 
and spent a week there preaching in the Great Mouse, which 
he opened, though the roof was not on ; and he preached in it, 
every day. " God has revived his own work in Philadelphia. 
His glory filled the Great House." Being excluded from the 
Episcopal pulpits, and enormous multitudes* flocking to hear 
him, it was proposed to build a house. Sufficient money was 
at once procured to buy ground and build a house one hun- 
dred feet long by seventy broad. It was carried up with spirit, 
and was soon ready for use. "The affairs belonging thereto 
are, I believe, well settled." The trustees were to be taken in 
equal numbers from each denomination, and the house to be 
open for any preacher of any religious persuasion, even a mis- 
sionary to propagate Mohammedanism. 

On the loth of Xovember, he preached in Cross's meeting- 
house, because of the snow. "The word was attended with a 
sweet and wonderful power." Now he began to realize the 
truth of Edwards's remarks; and he declared that the openly 
exposing of our opinion of ministers as unconverted, was a 
Lording over the brethren, and not to be tolerated. "Oh, pray 
for me," he wrote to Gilbert Tennent, "that I may not by any 
means grieve the children of God." 

On the 17th he preached at Gloucester, — "an affecting melt- 
ing," — and at Greenwich "to a few without power;" on the 
1-th, al 1 'ilesgrove, to two thousand. None were affected. On 
the 19th he preached twice at Cohanzv, (Fairfield,) to some 
thousands; Gilbert Tennent had been there not long before. 

The whole congregation was moved, and tWO cried out. "The 
Spirit of tie- Lord moved over the whole face of the congre- 
gation." on the 20th be preached at Salem, to two thousand 
— a precious tine-, ih- crossed the bay ami preached at New- 
castle] few 'Were affected, and some scoffed. Here Anderson 

desired a conference with him; hut Whitefield, who bad turned 

from bin) at B'agg'fl Manor, declined, and, identi!\ [ng him with 

'•Tie- i laid, "Yon have made your remarks on me 

public: I can have no private discourse on the matter." The 



* Franklin's Bfanoin. 



160 WEBSTER'S HISTORY OF THE 

next day, at WTiite Clay Creek, lie found thousands waiting to 
hear the word. Several of Anderson's associates were present. 
The people were greatly moved ; some cried out. On Saturday, 
the 22d, he preached at Fagg's Manor, to many thousands; 
there was a wonderful powerful moving of hearts, hut not so 
great as at his first visit. 

He spent the Sabbath at Nottingham. There was a great 
concourse, and the blessing descended like the dew. The next 
day, November 24, at Bohemia, Maryland, Hutcheson's charge, 
he preached to thousands, and had not seen "a more solid 
melting since his arrival." 

He then went to Reedy Island to embark, and, the sloop 
being detained by contrary winds for a week, he preached 
frequently. The captains" and crews of the wind-bound vessels 
attended ; crowds came from the country, and some from Phila- 
delphia, and there was a general and deep concern. 

He sailed for Charleston the seventy-fifth day after he landed 
at Rhode Island, having preached one hundred and seventy-five 
times, exhorted frequently iu private, collected, in money, 
goods, and provisions, £700 for the Orphan-house, never hav- 
ing journeyed with so little fatigue or seen such a continuance 
of the divine presence with those to whom he preached. 

Donegal Presbytery was the field of the sorest conflict. Other 
presbyteries were on the circumference of the tornado, but it 
lay in the centre, and was devastated by its maddest whirlings 
and its mightiest uprootings. The senior ministers were 
Thomson, of Chestnut Level, Boyd, of Octorara, and Bertram, 
of Derry; next in age was Alexander Creaghead, of Middle 
Octorara, a standard-bearer in the warfare; and with him was 
associated in opposition to the rest of the body David Alex- 
ander, of Pequea. They two declined attendance on the stated 
meetings, because candidates were licensed and ordained after 
superficial examination, and while giving no evidence of not 
being enemies to heart-religion. The five to whom they 
openly objected were Black, of Brandy wine Manor, Elder, of 
Paxton, Zanchy, of Hanover, Samuel Thomson, of Pennsboro', 
and Cavin, of Conococheague. They two countenanced the 
itinerations of Finley and the separation at Nottingham, and 
were themselves complained of for seeking to promote divi- 
sions : Creaghead at New London and Alexander at Brandy- 



PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH IN AMERICA. 161 

■wine Manor. Thomson complained of Blair for intruding into 
his charge at Chestnut Level, to foment alienation of feeling. 
Besides, Creaghead was charged with making adherence to 
the Solemn League and Covenant a term of admission to 
church privileges ; while the sin of drunkenness lay at Alex- 
ander's door. 

The presbytery* came to Middle Octorara to take up the 
complaints against the minister; they found him in the pulpit 
preaching agaiust "blind leaders of the blind." On conclud- 
ing, he invited the large congregation to meet at the tent and 
hear his defence. The presbytery being about to proceed to 
business, the people rose in a tumult, railing on them; and 
they adjourned to another place. Creaghead's defence was 
read from the tent by Alexander and Finley, and the next day, 
the presbytery were forced to hear it read from the pulpit. 
For this contumacy, he having renounced their authority in the 
fin! instance, he was suspended. 

The press was used by both parties. The Querists replied to 
"Wnitefield, showing how many things still needed explanation 
in his language and conduct. To this Samuel Blair replied 
with unsparing and inexcusable severity, imputing the most 
unworthy motives to the ministers, whom he regarded as its 
authors and patrons. "It is no sin to exclaim against dry, 
sapless, unconverted ministers, for such surely are the bane of 
the church." "That is," said The Querists, "it is no sin to 
driaiiie a man after you have given him a bad name." "The 
Querists No. III." was composed of notes on Tennent's Not- 
tingham Sermon, in January, 1741, Finley preached a sermon 
on Matthew xii. 27, 28: — *?If I by Beelzebub cast out devils, by 

whom then do your sons cast them out?" It was published 
with the title, Ohbisx Rbionihg. and Satan Kauino, — severe, 
bitter, anjnat, and mischievous, lie also printed a Letter to a 
Friend, in which he speaks of "the set of priests;" "pride and 
interesl have hindered the general of ecclesiastics from embrac- 
ing Christ/ 1 **Chrisi kepi aloof and damned them for their 
rotten performances, Eastings, prayers, and alms." "Oh, the 
babbling ignorant priests thai would seem such friends fco holi- 
"Aiv not these the devil's advocates! whose spirit 

* MS. Hecorda of Donegul PwbyUa ji citd by l»r. llodgo. 
11 



162 Webster's history of the 

came from them?" "Diabolical reasoners, be they ministers 
or people. ministers of Satan, enemies of all righteousness 
who like Elymas ."* These specimens mournfully illus- 
trate the state of things at that day, and explain the necessity 
for hesitating before we cast out, as vile, every man who joined 
in the outcry against Finley and the older ones from whom he 
learned such language. 

He used the same unmeasured and inexcusable invective in 
his answer to Thomson's able, scriptural, dignified sermon on 
Conviction and Assurance. " The Clear Light put out in Ob- 
scure Darkness," is the title of this performance; and Thom- 
son's doctrine is condemned as Moravian, Muggletonian, and 
detestable. 

Tennent made his tour through New England in the severe 
winter of 1741, Long Island Sound being frozen over; and, 
while Whitefield had been scrupulously exact, neat, and hand- 
some in his apparel, Tennent laid aside powder, discarded 
wigs, and wore a large greatcoat girt with a leathern girdle, 
as if the new era in religion was to date from the new style in 
clothes. He appears to have avoided denunciation and extra- 
vagance, and to have preached with great clearness, solemnity, 
and power, the glorious distinguishing doctrines of the gospel. 
He was received with great respect and cordial welcome, and 
was signally honoured of God in winning souls. f 

In May, 1741, Donegal Presbytery met at Pequea to hear 
the complaints against Alexander ; he took the pulpit and pre- 
vented the moderator from preaching. They cleared him of 
the charge of drunkenness ; but his excess in drink at a funeral, 
his reproaches of his presbytery, and his refusal to submit to 
the constituted authorities of the .church, could not be over- 
looked. He was disowned till he manifested repentance. 

At the same time, "the dreadful scandals" of Cross, of 

* Library of Harvard University. " Mr. Whitefield is very sure of God's eternal 
love, and is not afraid he shall ever be ashamed of his hope. . . . Now, I would be 
glad to learn of these diabolical reasoners, (the Querists,) be they ministers or 
people, if it be the devil's custom to set the world in an uproar about their souls ?" 

j- A letter from Portsmouth, New Hampshire, published in the Pennsylvania 
Gazette, says, "That heavenly man preached six sermons there, and spoke a9 
I never heard man speak before. While dwelling on the grace of Christ towards 
the guilty, there were such outcries and weepings you could scarcely distinguish 
one sound from another." 



PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH IN AMERICA. 163 

Baskingridge, came to light, and his absence from the meeting 
of Xew Brunswick Presbytery delayed his trial and condem- 
nation till after the synod. 

Divisions had already begun. "William Tennent,* of Kesha- 
miny, had renounced the authority of Philadelphia Presbytery 
since the fall of 1739. " Xew erections" of separate congrega- 
tions were nearly completed at Nottingham and Hopewell. 
To the Great House in Philadelphia, a large body had with- 
drawn from the Old Meeting-house, and all of these erections 
were supplied by the New-Side ministers and licentiates. 

The synod met on the 27th of May, 1741 ; the Old Side were 
exasperated by the misrepresentations and insults of the Pro- 
testers, and by their unwearied and successful schemes m 
alienating their people from them, and trembled with a godly 
jealousy lest the principles of the New Brunswick men (being 
like those of the Irish non-subscribers in the matter of church 
government) should bring in here, as there, contempt of the 
doctrines of grace and denial of the Supreme Deity of the 
Son of God. The New Side came flushed with success ; the 
shout of a king was in their camp; they had the favour of the 
people, as the men whom God had owned, and they had the 
favour of God, making them mighty to pull down the strong- 
holdfi of Satan. 

They did not meet as brethren. Each was strongly prepos- 
sessed againsl tin- other, and the actions of each served to irri- 
tate ami embitter the feelings already excited and wounded. 
They were blinded to each other's excellencies, and amazingly 
acute in discerning the dimensions of the mote in their bro- 
ther's eye. The strange incongruity was seen, of the smallest 
ami the youngest presbytery refusing to be bound by any law of 
tli-' Bynod which displeased them; ami having three licentiates 

ami one minister 00 their list, whom the synod could QOl accept 

without laying aside its authority, ami sinking itself into a mere 

consultative body whose decisions were binding on UOne, The 

claim made l,v the non-subscribers in the I'lster Synod twenty 

before, was renewed by the Protesters under a Mill more 
offensive form; for they admitted the synod's power to make 
rales, ami the excellency of the rules, when the Bynod was com* 

• MS. Records of Philadelphia Pre s by te ry. 



164 Webster's history of the 

posed of godly men ; and denied its power and the binding 
force of its enactments, only, when the church was crushed by 
a majority of blind guides, letter-learned Pharisees, and dead 
men. In effect, they asserted, "If we were the majority, it 
would be binding on you to obey the rules ; but, seeing you 
sightless and Christless ones are in the majority, the rules are 
null, and, like yourselves, fit only to be despised." 

No human skill could throw a bridge across the frightful 
gulf yawning between them, that they might meet half-way 
or stand on debatable ground. There can be no union where, 
in the eyes of a handful, the majority of their brethren are as 
grasshoppers. 

What, then, was the great point of difference? On neither 
side was there ignorance or hatred of the doctrines of grace, 
or the habit, or the wish, of sinking them unobserved into in- 
significance. Nor was there disbelief or dislike of the doc- 
trine of Regeneration, or its author, necessity, or nature ; nor 
yet as to the evidences of it, but only as to the convictions 
preceding the change from death to life, and the immediate 
inward witness of the saving change ; and even the difference 
on these points, when divested of exaggerations and cleared of 
confusion of terms, was so small as to be indiscernible. There 
was no difference as to the mode of church government, or 
subscription to the Westminster standards, or the necessity of 
a learned ministry, much less of the higher necessity of piety 
in ministers and people. Nor yet as to the outcries, faintings, 
laughter, and other unusual accompaniments : both abhorred 
the thought that they were marks of saving operations of the 
Spirit; the one derided them as degrading public worship and 
substituting bodily exercise for reverent hearing of the truth ; 
the others contended that they were not necessarily contempt- 
ible or abominable as the effects of terror, or overwrought 
sensibility, or Satanic agency. 

In New England, the case was widely different. There Ar- 
minianism was secretly working and widely diffused. Its 
effect was seen in the lethargic preaching, and the dead formal- 
ism, strangely joined with bitter denunciation, and tireless 
manoeuvres to put down every one who acknowledged another 
king besides Caesar. In Connecticut, the legislative power was 
invoked, and the law giving liberty to sober dissenters from the 



PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH IX AMERICA. 165 

standing order to form themselves into congregations, was 
repealed. A minister of the colon}-, preaching in a parish with- 
out the consent of the pastor, though it were in a Baptist 
meeting-house by the request of the Baptist preacher and his 
people, was deprived of his salary for a year. Ministers not 
of the colony, committing the like offence, were to be taken 
up as vagrants and carried from constable to constable, till they 
touched the soil of the nearest province. In the Bay, as well 
as in Connecticut, the associations issued warnings, testimonies, 
and declarations against the promoters of the Revival, and laid 
hold on every available opportunity to unsettle them from 
their pastoral charges, or to hedge up their admission to settle- 
ment in any vacancy. But the Old Side had no willing legis- 
lature to frame laws for their advantage; they issued no testi- 
mony against Whitefield or any man; no pious man was un- 
settled for his adherence to the Protesters; no hinderance was 
offered to congregations asking a change of jurisdiction. The 
measure of courtesy towards the Protesters, and especially the 
excellent meekness of their submission to the high-handed 
assaults on their personal and ministerial character by Blair 
and Tennent, greatly honours them. 

There were present twenty-six ministers and eighteen 
elders. Andrews was chosen moderator, and Boyd clerk. 
The whole of New York Presbytery were absent, probably by 
design, being apprized that a crisis was at hand, and being 
unable to act with either side, or compose the difference be- 
tween them. 

There had been, doubtless, much concert on the part of the 
majority. They had folly mastered their forces. The right of 
some to rit as members in synod was the firsl branch of busi- 
ness; and Oreaghead, having declined the jurisdiction of his 
presbytery and having been suspended, his case was taken up. 

He presented a paper, which was read; and the next day was 

consumed in considering a paper of charges made by hifi 
people against John Thomson, and a second paper offered 
by Creaghead. The charges wire handed to Thomson to 
peruse, and his presbytery was ordered to judge in that aflaii 
lily. 
The afternoon of Friday, the 29th, and the morning of Sa 
tnrday, were devoted to hearing the answer of I Donegal Presby 



166 Webster's history of the 

tery to Creaghead's paper, and to discoursing on it. They 
adjourned at noon, till three on Monday. 

The Sabbath was a busy day. Gilbert Tennent preached 
five times, beginning at six in the morning, and baptized 
eight adults. 

On Monday, June 1, after the reading of the minutes, the 
following protestation w r as brought in by Robert Cross, and 
read : — 

Eeverend Fathers and Brethren : — 

We, the ministers of Jesus Christ, and members of the 
Synod of Philadelphia, being wounded and grieved at our very 
hearts, at the dreadful divisions, distractions, and convulsious 
which all of a sudden have seized this infant church to such a 
degree, that unless He, who is King in Zion, do graciously and 
seasonably interpose for our relief, she is in no small danger 
of expiring outright, and that quickly, as to the form, order, 
and constitution of an organized church, which hath subsisted 
for above these thirty years past, in a very great degree of 
comely order and sweet harmony, until of late. We say, we 
being deeply afflicted with these things which lie heavy on our 
spirits, and being sensible that it is our indispensable duty to 
do what lies in our power, in a lawful way, according to the 
light and direction of the inspired oracles, to preserve this 
swooning church from a total expiration : and after the delibe- 
rate and unprejudiced inquiry into the causes of these confu- 
sions which rage so among us, both ministers and people, we 
evidently seeing, and being fully persuaded in our judgments, 
that, besides our misimprovement of, and unfruitfulness under, 
gospel light, liberty, and privileges, that great decay of practi- 
cal godliness in the life and power of it, and many abounding 
immoralities: we say, besides these, our sins, which we judge 
to be the meritorious cause of our present doleful distractions, 
the awful judgment we at present groan under, we evidently 
see that our protesting brethren and their adherents w r ere the 
direct and proper cause thereof, by their unwearied, unscrip- 
tural, antipresbyterial, uncharitable, divisive practices, which 
they have been pursuing, with all the industry they were ca- 
pable of, iwith any probability of success, for above these 
twelve months past especially, besides too much of the like 



PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH IN AMERICA. 167 

practices for some years before, though not with such bare- 
faced arrogance and boldness. 

And being fully convinced, in our judgments, that it is our 
duty to bear testimony against these disorderly proceedings, 
according to our stations, capacity, and trust reposed in us by 
our exalted Lord, as watchmen on the walls of his Zion, we 
having endeavoured sincerely to seek counsel and direction 
from God, who hath promised to give wisdom to those that 
ask him in faith, yea, hath promised his Holy Spirit to lead 
his people and servants into all truth, and being clearly con- 
vinced, in our consciences, that it is a duty called unto in this 
t juncture of affairs. 

Reverend fathers and brethren, we hereby humbly and 
solemnly protest, in the presence of the great and eternal God, 
and hia elect angels, as well as in the presence of all here pre- 
sent, and particularly to you, reverend brethren, in our own 
names, and in the names of all, both ministers and people, 
who shall adhere to 08, as follows: — 

1. We protest that it is the indispensable duty of this synod, 
to maintain and stand by the principles of doctrine, worship, 
and government of the Church of Christ, as the same are 
Bummed up in the Confession of Faith, Catechisms, and 1 liree- 
t"iy composed by the Westminster Assembly, as being agree- 
able to the word of God, and which this synod have owned, 
acknowledged, and adopted, as may appear by our synodical 
records of the years 1729, 1736, which we desire to be read 
publicly. 

2. We protesl that no person, minister or elder, should be 
allowed to Bit and vote Lb this synod, who hath not received, 
adopted, '>r Bubscribed the said Confessions, Catechisms, and 
J directory, as our presbyteries respectively do, according to our 
last explication of the Adopting Act; or who is either accused 
or convicted, or may be convicted before this synod, or any of 
ear presbyteries, of holding or maintaining any doctrine, or 
who art and persist in any practice, contrary to any of those 
doctrines, <»r rules contained in said Directory, or contrary to 

of the known rights of presbytery, or orders made on 

I to by this Bynod, and which stand yel unrepealed, un- 

Le or until he Denounce Buch doctrine, and, being found 

guilty, acknowli his sorrow for such 



168 Webster's history of the 

sinful disorder, to the satisfaction of this synod, or such infe- 
rior judicatory as the synod shall appoint or empower for that 
purpose. 

3. We protest that all our protesting brethren have at pre- 
sent no right to sit and vote as members of this synod, having 
forfeited their right of being accounted members of it for 
many reasons, a few of which we shall mention afterwards. 

4. We protest that, if, notwithstanding of this our protesta- 
tion, these brethren be allowed to sit and vote in this synod, 
without giving suitable satisfaction to the synod, and particu- 
larly to us, who now enter this protestation, and those who 
adhere to us in it, that whatsoever shall be done, voted, or 
transacted by them, contrary to our judgment, shall be of no 
force or obligation to us, being done and acted by a judicatory 
consisting in part of members who have no authority to act 
with us in ecclesiastical matters. 

5. We protest that, if, notwithstanding this our protestation, 
and contrary to the true intent and meaning of it, these pro- 
testing brethren, and such as adhere to them, or support and 
countenance them in their antipresb}*terial practices, shall con- 
tinue to act as they have done this last year, in that case we, 
and as many as have clearness to join with us, and maintain 
the rights of this judicatory, shall be accounted in no wise 
disorderly, but the true Presbyterian church in this province ; 
and they shall be looked upon as guilty of schism, and the 
breach of the rules of presbyterial government, which Christ 
has established in his church, which we are ready at all times 
to demonstrate to the world. 

Reverend and dear brethren, we beseech you to hear us 
with patience, while we lay before you, as briefly as we can, 
some of the reasons that move us thus to protest, and, more 
particularly, why we protest against our protesting brethren's 
being allowed to sit as members of this synod. 

1. Their heterodox and anarchical principles expressed in 
their Apolog}', pages twenty-eight and thirty-nine, where they 
expressly deny that presbyteries have authority to oblige their 
dissenting members, and that synods should go any further, in 
judging of appeals or references, &c, than to give their best 
advice, which is plainly to divest the officers and judicatories 
of Christ's kingdom of all authority, (and plainly contradicts 



PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH IN AMERICA. 1G9 

the thirty-first article of our Confession of Faith, section three, 
which these brethren pretend to adopt,) agreeable to which is 
the whole superstructure of arguments which they advance 
and maintain against not only our synodical acts, but also all 
authority to make any acts or orders that shall bind their dis- 
senting members, throughout their whole Apology. 

2. Their protesting against the synod's act in relation to the 
examination of candidates, together with their proceeding to 
license and ordain men to the ministry of the gospel, in oppo- 
sition to, and in contempt of, said act of synod. 

3. Their making irregular irruptions upon the congregations 
to which they have no immediate relation, without order, 
concurrence, or allowance of the presbyteries or ministers to 
which congregations belong, thereby sowiug the seeds of di- 
vision among people, and doing what they can to alienate and 
fill their minds with unjust prejudices against their lawfully- 
called pastors. 

4. Their principles and practice of rash judging and con- 
demning all who do not fall in with their measures, both minis- 
ters and people, as carnal, graceless, and enemies to the work 
of God, and what not, as appears in Mr. Gilbert Tennent's 
sermon against unconverted ministers, and his and Mr. Blair's 
papers of May last, which were read in open synod; which 
rash jndging has been the constant practice of our protesting 
brethren, and their irregular probationers, for above these 
twelve months past, in their disorderly itinerations and preach- 
ing through our congregations, by which (alas for it!) most 
of "in- congregations, through weakness and credulity, are so 
shattered and divide'], ami Bhaken in their principles, that few 

or none of ttS can lay we enjoy the comfort or have the SUC- 

oesE among <>ur people, which otherwise we might, and which 
we enjoyed heretofore. 

5. Their industriously penunding people to believe that the 

mil of God, whereby he calls men to the minis) ry, does not 

eonsisl in their heiog regularly ordained ami set apart to that 
work, according to the institution and rules of the word] hut 
in some invisible motions ami workings of the Spirit, which 
none ,-;,ii he com,;,, us or sensible of but the person himself, 
ami with respecl to which he i- liable to he deceived, or play 
the hypocrite. That the gospel, preached in truth by nneon> 



170 WEBSTER'S HISTORY OF THE 

verted ministers, can be of no saving benefit to souls; and 
their pointing out such ministers, whom they condemn as 
graceless by their rash judging spirit, they effectually carry the 
point with the poor credulous people, who, in imitation of their 
example, and under their patrociny, judge their ministers to 
be graceless, and forsake their ministers as hurtful rather than 
profitable. 

6. Their preaching the terrors of the law in such a manner 
and dialect as has no precedent in the word of God, but rather 
appears to be borrowed from a worse dialect; and so indus- 
triously working on the passions and affections of weak minds, 
as to cause them to cry out in a hideous manner, and fall down 
in convulsion-like fits, to the marring of the profiting both of 
themselves and others, who are so taken up in seeing and hear- 
ing these odd symptoms, that they cannot attend to or hear 
what the preacher says ; and then, after all, boasting of these 
things as the work of God, which we are persuaded do proceed 
from an inferior or worse cause. 4 

7. Their, or some of them, preaching and maintaining that 
all true converts are as certain of their gracious state as a per- 
son can be of what he knows by his outward senses; and are 
able to give a narrative of the time and manner of their con- 
version, or else they conclude them to be in a natural or grace- 
less state, and that a 'gracious person can judge of another's 
gracious state otherwise than by his profession and life. That 
people are under no sacred tie or relation to their own pastors 
lawfully called, but may leave them when they please, and 
ought to go where they think they get most good. 

For these and many other reasons, we protest, before the 
Eternal God, his holy angels, and you, reverend brethren, 
and before all here present, that these brethren have no right 
to be acknowledged as members of this judicatory of Christ, 
whose principles and practices are so diametrically opposite 
to our doctrine, and principles of government and order, 
which the great King of the Church hath laid down in his 
word 

How absurd and monstrous must that union be, where one 
part of the members own themselves obliged, in conscience, to 
the judicial determinations of the whole, founded on the word 
of God, or else relinquish membership; and another Dart de- 



PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH IX AMERICA. 171 

clare, they are not obliged and will not submit, unless the de- 
termination be according to their minds, and consequently 
will submit to no rule, in making of which they are in the 
negative ! 

Again, how monstrously absurd is it, that they should so 
much as desire to join with us, or we with them, as a judica- 
tory, made up of authoritative officers of Jesus Christ, while 
thej openly condemn us wholesale; and, when they please, 
apply their condemnatory sentences to particular brethren by 
name, without judicial process, or proving them guilty of 
heresy or immorality, and at the same time will not hold 
Christian communion with them ! 

Again, how absurd is the union, while some of the mem- 
bers of the same body, which meet once a year, and join as a 
judicatory of Christ, do all the rest of the year what they can, 
openly and aboveboard, to persuade the people and flocks of 
their brethren and fellow-members to separate from their own 
B, as graceless hypocrites, and yet they do not separate 
from them themselves, bat join with them once every year, as 
members of the same judicatory of Christ, and oftener, when 
presbyteries are mixed! Is it not most unreasonable, stupid 
Indolence in us, to join with such as are avowedly tearing us 
in pieces like beasts of prey? 

Again, is not the continuance of union with our protesting 
brethren very absurd, when it is so notorious that both their 
(loctrine and practice are so directly contrary to the Adopting 
Art, whereby both they and we have adopted the Confession of 
Faith, Catechisms^ and Directory composed by the "Westmin- 
ster Assembly. 

Finally, U QOl ft >iitiiiuancc of Union absurd with those who 

would arrogate to themselves a right and power to palm and 

Obtrude members On our synod, contrary to the minds and 

judgment of the body? 

In fine, a continued anion, ID our judgment, is most absurd 

and inconsistent, when it is bo notorious that our doctrine and 
principles of church government, in many points, are not only 
diverse, but directly opposite. For how can two walk together! 
ezcepi they b.- agreed '.' 

i: . . rend fathers and brethren, these are a part, and but a 
part, of our reasons why we protest as above, and which wo 



172 WEBSTER'S HISTORY OF THE 

have only hinted at, but have forborne to enlarge on them, as 
we might. The matter and substance of them are so well 
known to you all, and the whole world about us, that we 
judged this hint sufficient at present, to declare our serious 
and deliberate judgment in the matter; and, as we profess 
ourselves to be resolvedly against principles and practice of 
both anarchy and schism, so we hope that God, whom we 
desire to serve and obey, the Lord Jesus Christ, whose minis- 
ters we are, will both direct and enable us to conduct our- 
selves, in these trying times, so as our consciences shall not 
reproach us as long as we live. Let God arise, and let his 
enemies be scattered, and let them that hate him fly before 
him ; but let the righteous be glad, yea, let them exceedingly 
rejoice. And may the spirit of life and comfort revive and 
comfort this poor swooning and fainting church, quicken her 
to spiritual life, and restore her to the exercise of true charity, 
peace, and order. 

Although we can freely, and from the bottom of our hearts, 
justify the Divine proceedings against us, in suffering us to fall 
into these confusions for our sins, and particularly for the great 
decay of the life and power of godliness among all ranks, both 
ministers and people, yet we think it to be our present duty to 
bear testimony against these prevailing disorders, judging that 
to give way to the breaking down the hedge of discipline and 
government from about Christ's vineyard, is far from being the 
proper method of causing his tender plants to grow to grace 
and fruitfulness. 

As it is our duty in our station, without delay, to set about 
a reformation of the evils whereby we have provoked God 
against ourselves, so we judge the strict observation of his laws 
of government and order, and not the breaking of them, to be 
one necessary mean and method of this necessary and much- 
to-be-desired reformation. And we doubt not, but when our 
God sees us duly humbled and penitent for our sins, he will 
yet return to us in mercy, and cause us to flourish in spiritual 
life, love, unity, and order : though perhaps we may not live to 
see it, yet this testimony that we now bear may be of some 
good use to our children yet unborn, when God shall arise and 
have mercy of Zion. 

Ministers: — Robert Cross, John Thomson, Francis Alison, 



PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH IN AMERICA. 173 

Robert Cathcart, Richard Zanchy, John Elder, John Craig, 
Samuel Caven, Samuel Thomson, Adam Boyd, James Martin, 
Robert Jamison. 

Elders:— Robert Porter, Robert McKnight, William McCul- 
loch, John McEwen, Robert Rowland, Robert Craig, James 
Kerr, Alexander MeKnight. 

After being read, it was laid on the table, and was signed 
by several. Some cried that they were protesting gross lies 
before Almighty God ; and others that the elders were sub- 
scribing what they had not heard or considered. Andrews 
left the chair; the Brunswick party, loath to be cast out 
ha.-tily, spoke in their own defence; but, the house being con- 
fused, it was hard to tell what was said. Blair and others 
insisted that the Protesters ought to withdraw, not being a 
majority of the body. The building was crowded, and the 
galleries rang with the cry to cast the Protesters out. 

The Brunswick party offered no pacific overtures or any 
satisfaction for past grievances, but only unchristian reproaches. 
This brought the affair to a crisis, so that both parties could 
not sit together. 

"It was canvassed by the former Protesters whether they or 
we were to be looked on as the synod. We maintained that 
they had no right to sit, whether they were the majority or 
not. Then tiny motioned that we should examine this point, 
Mid that the major number was the synod." 

TIm' roll was counted. Andrews decided at once, and said 
openly he would not join with the New Brunswick gentlemen. 

Gillespie and McHeniydid not appear, when it was now oi 

never in the point of outvoting. Blmer had probably gone 
home with his elder, Jonathan Fithian, on Saturday. Hutche* 
son hesitated. The minority consisted '<\' William Tennent 
and his elder, Richard Walker; Gilbert Tennenl and his elder, 
David Chambers; Richard Treat, Bleazer Wales; Samuel 
Blair ami his elder, John Ramsey; William Tennent, junior; 
Charles Tennent and his elder, William Medea; Alexander 
I bead and David Alexander. They withdrew, followed 
by a great crowd. 
Then Andrews resumed tic chair, and the synod proceeded 



174 Webster's history of the 

to business. Andrews* had not been consulted, and knew 
nothing of the design till the protest was brought. Itf had 
been drawn up and agreed upon after consultation and solemn 
prayer. 

The protest has been greatly condemned as violent, unpre- 
cedented, unwise, and unnecessary. 

Was it unprecedented ? It was not unlike the protest of 
the subscribers in the Synod of Ulster, by which they ex- 
cluded the non-subscribers in 1726, who withdrew and formed 
the Antrim Presbytery. This was probably the precedent 
which governed their course. 

"Was it not the only practicable mode of pacification ? If 
they tabled charges, who should judge? Were not the Pro- 
testers accused in open synod and in print by Tennent and 
Blair? There could be no umpire. Creaghead would submit 
his case only to a committee packed with a majority of his 
friends. Tennent would refer neither to Scotland or Ireland, 
London or Boston, for he had the smiles of God on his course. 

Was it not necessary? What could be more absurd and 
inconsistent than continued union, while the minority divided 
congregations, defamed their brethren, and set at naught the 
synod's claim to make any rules not pleasing to them ? 

It was a warring chaos, — potsherds dashing against potsherds. 
Separation was necessary, and to effect it a test was necessary. 
Was it ill-timed? Could it have been longer delayed with 
any benefit ? Was it a duty for the synod and the presbyteries 
to brook further contumely and defiance ? The New Side were 
fully prepared, and they would yield not an inch in Creaghead's 
case. They doubtless expected some, if not many, would con- 
cur, and demanded that the Protesters should withdraw. 

There were five classes in the synod : — the Protesters, the 
excluded, the silent, those who were dissatisfied with both 
parties, and the absent. Death had removed Anderson and 
Houston ; Gould had gone among the Congregationalists on 
Long Island; and Stevenson, "having omitted his ministry," 
was struck off the roll at the opening of the session. 

The Protesters were Robert Cross, of Philadelphia, and John 



* MS. Letter of Andrews to Pierson: in the hands of Dr. Sprague. 

f Refutation of Tennent's Remarks on the Protest. — Presb. Hist. Soc. Lib. 



PRESBYTERIAN CnL'RCH IN AMERICA. 175 

Thomson, of Chestnut Level, who had been members of the 
synod almost from its formation ; Francis Alison, of New 
London, and Robert Cathcart, of Wilmington, and the rive 
youngest members of Donegal Presbytery, — Zanchy, Elder, 
Cavin, and Samuel Thomson, with John Craig, of Augusta, in 
Virginia; together with Adam Boyd, (then in the sixteenth 
year of his ministry, who seems not to have signed the protest 
till it was laid on the table,) James Martin, of Lewestown, and 
Robert Jamison, of Duck Creek. 

The excluded were "William Tennent, of Nesharniny, now 
near the close of his days, and his three sons; Richard Treat, 
of Abingdon, and Eleazer Wales, who had been ordained nine 
or ten years; Samuel Blair, of Fagg's Manor, and Alexander 
Creaghead, of Middle Octorara, who, in six or seven years, 
hud risen to the first rank as preachers and men of influence ; 
and David Alexander, whose ministry had but recently begun. 

Those who were dissatisfied with both parties were the large 
majority of the synod. Two of the oldest ministers, Gillespie 
and Hutcheson, stood aloof on the division. The Presbytery 
of New York, composed of the best men, did the same; and 
tie- Presbytery of New Brunswick took under its care the 
churches in West Chester county, installed a pastor, and ap- 
pointed supplies for the Highlands, as though the Presbytery 
of New York had ceased to exist. 

The silent were a small fraction, to which belonged the 
oldesl minister, Andrews; Elmer, of Cohanzy, who protested 
the next year, against the exclusion, but whose congregation) 
rtheless, was divided by the Brunswick Presbytery, aa 
though he were B dead man; Cowell, of Trenton, like the 
other two, from New England; and McHenry from Ireland, and 
very recently ordained assistant to William Tennent at Xesha- 
miny and I >eep Run. 

The absent were the three most distant ministers, aged 
men: — Orme, of Dpper Marlborough; Oonn, of Bladeneburg, 
and Bertram, of Deny, on the Bwatara; Hook, of Drawyers, 
like Bertram, near the close of life; and the Welshmen, David 
Evans, of Pilesgrove, and Thomas Evans, of Pencader. 

The Bilenl and the absent all remained with the Old Side, 
while of the dissatisfied only Gillespie returned to them. 

The extent of the division was great Bedford and Oram- 



176 Webster's history of the 

pond, and Salem and Setauket, in New York Presbytery, 
placed themselves under the care of the Brunswick Presbytery. 
The separation in Philadelphia was large; Hopewell and 
Maidenhead, Cohanzy, Neshaminy, and Great Valley, in Phila- 
delphia Presbytery, were rent asunder: Greenwich, Gloster, 
Cape May, and Abingdon went over undivided. In New- 
castle Presbytery, Bohemia, White Clay, Pigeon Eun, or Red 
Lyon, withdrew: there were separations from Newcastle, 
Drawyers, Pencader, Red Clay, and Elk River. In Lewes 
Presbytery, divisions ensued at Lewes and Dover, and in 
Somerset ; in Donegal Presbytery, in every congregation, and 
especially the new settlements west of Susquehanna and in 
the Valley of Virginia. AVhile from the New-Side congrega- 
tions there were no separations to any extent; a few only 
withdrew from Treat, of Abingdon, Blair, of Fagg's Manor, 
and Creaghead, of Middle Octorara. 

Thus was the division accomplished. The most pious and 
judicious men might have signed the protest, or have upholden 
the movers of it. The grounds of it w r ere solid ; the reasons 
for it just and weighty. 

The action and language of the Brunswick party were anar- 
chical, and were defended by precisely the assumptions made 
by the non-subscribing Presbytery of Antrim, that had fallen 
into Arianism. 

Licensing and ordaining in direct violation of the synod's 
express and repeated injunction was rebellion; and to give 
way to it, was to abandon the authority and liberty which 
Christ had given them. 

Intrusion, though not meriting the heavy civil penalties 
adjudged to it in Connecticut, was unbrotherly, and destruc- 
tive of a pastor's success and comfort. The justification of it 
made it worse ; for they admitted, it was wrong except where 
the people were burdened with the ministry of dead men. 

The denunciation was a lording over brethren, and a con- 
demning of the law of Christ ; its effect on the converts was 
the generation of arrogance and censoriousness, which brought 
them and "the work of God" into contempt. To it must be 
traced much of the bitterness of opposers, and the sad, rapid, 
amazing, and hopeless decline of the revival. 

The doctrine of assurance and the Spirit's witness were so 



PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH IN AMERICA. 177 

preached as to lead to Antinomianism; John Cross* was up- 
held by many, and continued to exercise his ministry, although 
suspended ou glaring evidence; Dickinson was charged with 
having done the greatest mischief, such as no professed infidel 
could hftve accomplished, in teaching that we must seek the 
evidences of our acceptance with God in the work of sanctifi- 
cation in us.f 

Gilbert Tennent had asserted in preaching, and maintained 
in private, that every true convert is as sensible of the grace 
of God in him, and the love of God to him, as he is of a stab 
in the flesh or a thought in his mind. 

Besides this, which made every man a sufficient judge of his 
interest in Christ, they complained of no other instance of 
erroneous teaching, except the assertion that people were 
bound to their pastors only as long as they thought they could 
gel good from their preaching, and had the right to forsake 
tlicm when they might be more benefited elsewhere. 

On these five grounds they rested their demand that the 
Brunswick party should be excluded from membership in the 
synod until they made satisfaction for these grievances, and 
_■■• -d do more to pursue their divisive courses. 

The New York brethren agreed with the Protesters, that 
tfoeee were reasonable grounds of complaint and loud calls for 
lamentation; and they would not come into any union with 
the excluded party, until they had solemnly engaged no more 
to offend in any of these things. Thus was the protest justi- 
fied by those who condemned the exclusion; and the exclu- 
sion was maintained by New York Presbytery to its full 
extent, until all that was demanded in the protest was secured 
by the plighted faith of Tennent and hia coadjutors. 

In this connection, the following calm and valuable letter 
may he read with advantage, as illustrative of the length to 
which the Leaden of the Brunswick party had gone in thec- 
al \ie\VS. 



* I » i t • U i 1 1 - . . i » " - Defence of big Display of Grace. 

t Cro«* llnrv. Coll. Libr. 



178 Webster's history of the 

ANDREWS* TO PIERSON, OF WOODBRIDGE. 

"Philadelphia, June 25, 1741. 

" Key. and Dear Brother : — %-> 

" Mr. Dickinson's letter of May 23, and yours since that 
date, came both to hand ; and, though you both agree, it 
would be unreasonable to bring on the debate about the 
contested act at our last synod, when so many were absent ; 
yet I am told there is reason to believe it was designed, and 
if they had carried their point in having that act rescinded, 
it would have brought in such a deluge of preachers that 
'twould have been in vain for any that don't come into all 
their new notions, to have appeared at synod any more. And 
some judged they were strengthening their party with such 
a view, as we all know they stick at nothing to gather prose- 
lytes. What influence that had in bringing on the protesta- 
tion against them now, as I was not consulted, or whether any, 
I can't tell. You may have your thoughts, as I have mine. 

"But, brother, you that way don't see, hear, and feel what 
we do. The confusions they have made this way, in town and 
country, are perfectly astonishing, and indeed e'en make us 
weary of our lives. They have called themselves members 
with us, but have been continually acting against us, and 
endeavouring to make all that don't follow them to be looked 
on as carnal, graceless, unconverted hypocrites, to destroy our 
usefulness and bring as many as possible over to them, so 
that we can scarce tell where to go or who to speak to. But 
this is not all; both town and country are full of Antinomian 
notions, which if we say any thing against, in pulpit or out, 
'tis almost as much as our lives are worth, and we feel our- 
selves bound in conscience to give people warniug and endea- 
vour to preserve them from destruction. 

" The prevailing opinion among the party is, that the moral 
law is no rule to believers. They freely declare they don't 
do any good, or bring forth any fruit, or avoid any evil, on 
consideration of any law obliging or forbidding them, or from 
any fear of God at all. Xay, they tell me they have no 
regard to any thing they do or can do, to promote their own 

* Transcribed from the original by permission of Dr. Sprague. 



PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH IN AMERICA. 179 

happiness or salvation at all. The}- utterly disclaim all self- 
love, and make it a wrong mercenary thing, contrary to the 
spirit of the gospel, to have any eye to their own benefit in 
any thing they do, but only the glory of God, exclusive of 
their own good. 

" The common vogue is, that we must not press the un- 
converted to do duty, because all they do is sin ; and that 
there is no need to urge the converted to it, because they 
will do it, not because they must. Accordingly they avoid 
preaching up moral duties ; and, though they have ever so fair 
an opportunity for it, they avoid telling the people that the 
moral law is the eternal rule of reasonable creatures ; they 
seem to be afraid to do it ; for, if they did, they would be as 
bad as we, and their hearers would leave them. They con- 
vene with that party a hundred times more than I do, and, 
consequently, must know their errors better than I can ; and 
yet they say nothing to bring them off, that I hear of, which 
they would do it' they were not of the same mind themselves, 
36 can't be honest men. This enthusiastical frenzy is, 
I think, universal among them, (I mean their leaders and 
some others,) that they can tell who is converted or not, espe- 
cially upon a little discourse, and so judge and condemn and 
damn with all tjie freedom imaginable. 

"The Christ they invite persons to, seems to me not the true 
Christ. The true Christ has a yoke, which they that come to 
him must take upon them; but this yoke is not mentioned, 
but only 'Come, come.' All which, and much more to the 
same purpose, they say, they learned of Mr. Whitefieldj 

and tiny do think they follow him punctually in them, which 

i- their aim. 1 know in some of them they are not mistaken, 

and 1 feared things would come to this pass from the begin- 
ning, which made me dissatisfied. Some people blamed me 

then (thinking people would take the good and leave the had) 

that now justify me and Bay thai I saw further than they. 

'•A prevailing rule to try converts is, that, if you don't 
know when vou were without Christ and unconverted, &c, 
yon have no interest in Christ, lei your love and your practice 

he what they may; which rule, ;i s it is unseriptural, so I am 
of the mind will CUt off nine in fcen, if not ninety-nine in 
a hundred, of the good people in the world that have had a 



180 WEBSTER'S HISTORY OF THE 

pious education. And, hence, in a manner, all our pious fore- 
fathers are doomed to the pit, as most sober, pious people are 
now. The old rule that our Saviour gave of judging the tree 
by its fruits, is now generally thrown out of doors, and an 
intuitive way of judging, like God's, is now pretended to. All 
that don't come up to this way of thinking and judging are 
declared carnal ; and so much as to call it in question, is 
almost fatal. Nay, all that don't think we are saved in the 
way of absolute sovereignty, (which some think renders all 
the promises of the gospel, and the gospel itself and the Me- 
diator of it, all needless and useless,) and that don't believe 
we must feel the Spirit blow upon us as evidently as we can 
feel the northwest wind, they are looked upon as carnal 
persons. 

" Now, my dear brother, I don't know what you may think 
of these things ; but I think they strike at all solid religion, 
and tend to pervert the good principles derived to us from our 
forefathers; and I think — nay, I am almost sure — you like 
them no better than I, notwithstanding the angry letter you 
wrote me concerning the convulsive motions caused by Rd.'s* 
extravagant preaching. You quite mistook me, or you had 
spared the pains in that letter, as if I think convictions and 
awakenings, &c. were needless. Indeed, my brother, I never 
had such a thought. God forbid I should ; but I am of the 
mind that those things of which we have heard so often, 
at least some of them, are not of that nature. But I'll 
forbear : only say that if you have heard nothing of them, or 
if you judge such outcries must be, or we are lost, I think 
you and I and our forefathers have been doing nothing but 
deceiving the people ; but I hope in God it is not so, at least 
altogether. But enough of this at this time, and, for aught 
I know, more than expedient ; for, if Whitefield or some 
other should come at the sight of this letter, it may occasion 
many a raving sermon, as the exposing my former letters did. 
But, though such an unbrotherly, not to say unchristian, thing 
were done once, I can't entertain a thought that it will be 
done again. 

" I have here enclosed a protestation. "What you may think 

* Rowland. 



PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH IN AMERICA. 181 

of it I won't pretend to guess ; nor, as I was not concerned in 
it, will I tell you iny thoughts of it. Only this I will venture 
to say : that, if it had not heen done now, if things didn't soon 
make a great turn for the better, it must, in my mind, have 
been done in a little time, unless we would be contented to be 
a Babel both as to principles and practice. 

" My dear brother, if you find your judgment don't jump 
with mine in every thing, I desire charity between us may 
be kept alive ; for I do assure you, if I know any thing of the 
doctrines of our predecessors and the reformed churches, (and 
I humbly conceive I am not altogether an ignoramus in 
them,) I have not varied from them. What I dislike is, for 
aught I know, new, not known, at least not professed, by 
those that went before us, and, which is abundantly more, not 
according to the word. Therefore, non credo quia ?wn lego. I 
i this for Brother Dickinson as well as yourself; and, 
with hearty affection from Mr. Cross and self for you and Mr. 
Dickinson ami yours and his. in the entire bond of Christian 
brotherly friendship, I rest, your own 

"Jebediah Andrews." 



182 webstee's history of the 



CHAPTER VII. 

The Brunswick party having withdrawn, the synod pro- 
ceeded with its business, making no other reference to their 
departure than this : — that they appointed Thomson, Thomas 
Evans, and Alison to defend the protestation in print, if need 
be. The overture which Thomson and his elders had brought 
before Donegal Presbytery was taken up and readily ap- 
proved, nem. con. 

" That every member of this synod, minister or elder, do 
sincerely and heartily receive, own, acknowledge, or subscribe 
the "Westminster Confession of Faith and the Larger and 
Shorter Catechisms as the confession of his faith, and the 
Directory, as far as circumstances will allow and admit in this 
infant church, for the rule of church order. 

" That every session do oblige their elders at their admis- 
sion to do the same." 

The commission was appointed, to consist of Thomson, 
Dickinson, Pemberton, Pierson, Robert Cross, Alison, Boyd, 
and Martin, with Andrews, the moderator; but there is no 
record of its having been called together. 

They gave ten pounds out of the fund to the under- 
takers of the meeting-house in Wilmington to defray the 
charge of it, and lent them thirty pounds, free of interest, for 
three years. 

The synod, taking to their serious consideration that God's 
judgments are abroad in the earth, and the war in which 
we are engaged, the threatening scarcity of grain by the dis- 
couraging prospects of our crops, and the mournful melan- 
choly divisions among us who profess to be followers of the 
Prince of peace, resolved to keep a day of humiliation, fasting, 
and prayer, to implore the merciful and compassionate regard 
of our good God in these difficulties ; and that it be left to 



PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH IX AMERICA. 183 

each presbytery to appoint the time as it will best suit within 
their respective bounds. 

They then adjourned. 

The non-subscribers in Ireland, always assumed, that they 
withdrew on being protested against, in the face of the 
synod's declaration that they were excluded. 

The Brunswick party, always alleged, that they were ex- 
cluded, although they withdrew on rinding the majority of 
the synod resolute in demanding of them satisfaction for the 
grievances complained of in the protest; they denying that 
such grievances had been committed by them. 

The three excluded ministers* of New Brunswick Presby- 
tery met in Philadelphia on the 2d of June, the day after the 
protest was introduced, pro re nata. Rowland was chosen 
clerk, and the six ministers who adhered to them sat as cor- 
respondents. Hutcheson was present, although undecided 
what course to pursue. Gillespie, though absent, signiried 
his willingness to join them. 

" lla\ in_r been all along joined in one united synod with the 
other Presbyterian ministers in these parts, the greater. part 
of whom, with us in synod met, did yesterday, without any 
just grounds, protest against our continuing with them any 
longer, and so cast us out of their communion, we tamo 
together to consider how we ought to conduct ourselves in 
present circumstances fur the fulfilling of the work committed 

by the Lord Jesus, as ministers and elders, and agreed 

t" declare, — 
M That the protestation is unjust and sinful. 

"Thai it is OUT boundeo duty to form ourselves into dis- 
tinct presbyteries tor carrying on the government of Christ's 
chun-h. 

"That those brethren who have lefl Newcastle and Done- 
gal Presbyteries meet at White Clay Greek, on the 80th of 
June, and form the Presbytery of Londonderry. 

'•That the two presbyteries do meal al Philadelphia, the 
second Wednesday in August, in the capacity of a Bynod. 

" Lesl any Bhould suppose us t-» he receding from Preeby> 

teriau principles, we unaniinoii-ly declare that we do adhere 
Ren Brunswick Pr o a byto r j . 



184 Webster's history of the 

as closely and fully to the Westminster Confession, Cate- 
chisms, and Directory, as ever the Synod of Philadelphia 
did in any of their public acts and agreements about 
them." 

Blair was appointed to draw up, against the next meet- 
ing, an account of the differences in the synod for some 
years past, and which have issued in this separation. Ten- 
nent was directed to prepare an answer to the protest, 
wherein things are most unjustly represented. Blair's paper 
was adopted and published as the Declaration of the Con- 
junct Presbyteries* "When the protestation was printed with 
a preface, Tennent speedily sent forth Remarks on the Pro- 
test, and, as an appendix, the apology his presbytery had 
presented to the synod in 1739. This called forth two pam- 
phlets, — one, a Refutation of Remarks on the Protest, and 
the other from John Thomson, being an examination of the 
apology, and entitled " The Government of the Church." 
To this latter piece Samuel Blair replied, coinciding with 
Thomson in all his principles, and denying that he or his 
party had ever taken the positions which seem to constitute 
the very essence of the apology. 

Blair's paper was printed in 1744, and was entitled "A Vin- 
dication of the Brethren cast out, from maintaining Princi- 
ples of Anarchy and denying the Scriptural Authority of 
Church Judicatories." He expresses surprise that Thomson 
never once charged them with holding the Congregational 
plan, and asserts that the apology was valid and conclusive 
against the claim of legislative or law-making power, and 
maintained the executive authority of church courts. He 
declares all that had been said of the apology as anarchical 
w r as palpably false. He said he knew nothing of Tennent's 
paper when he prepared his representation. " What hurt was 
there in obtaining such a synodical admonition when there 
w r as really so much needed and more ?" 

On the afternoon of the 2d of June, the Brunswick party 
received supplications from Tredryffryn, Norriton, Brandy- 
wine, Nottingham, Leacock, Hopewell, (now Big Spring,) 
Pigeon Run, Christiana Bridge, Little Britain, Donegal, Derry, 
Greenwich, Cape May, Hanover in Lancaster, Pennsboro',( Car- 
lisle,) Conecocheague, Newtown, and Tehicken, and from James 



PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH EH AMERICA. 185 

River in Virginia. From this it would seem as if preparations 
Lad been made by these congregations, which were vaeaneies, 
to petition the synod for supplies, passing over their own pres- 
byteries; and by those of them which had pastors, to demand 
rections, or to be loosed from their ministers and have 
supplies. Probably intimations of this revolutionary measure 
were conveyed to the synod in some informal way, and deeided 
them to delay no longer, but to free themselves from continued 
union with men who behaved to them as if they were heathen 
and publicans. Nothing but the foresight of some impending 
Jtrophe eould have led so many congregations to send up 
supplications at such a time. They were the effects which 
might naturally have been predicted from the dispersion abroad 
of the representations of Tennent and Blair. In many places, 
public worship was forsaken to B large extent, and the ministry 
of the pastofd scouted) as being as unlikely to be used by God 
in the conversion of souls, as the agency of Satan. 

They appointed James Campbell, a licentiate, who had told 
th'- Bynod openly that he was unconverted, and had laid aside 
preaching, until solemnly engaged by Wniteheld to resume it, 
to begin at Londonderry, ( Fagg's .Manor.) and go to Forks of 
Brandywine, left vacant by the removal of Black; Leacockand 
Donegal, also vacant; Hanover, Zanchy's charge; Derry, Ber* 
tram'.- ; Paxton, Blder's; Pennsboro', Samuel Thomson 'a; Cone- 
boeheagne, ( lavin's; Little Britain, J. Thomson's; Nottingham, 
tin- in-w erection; Klk River, vacant by Eouston's removal; 
n Run and Christiana Bridge, vacancies; and Greenwich, 

in West Jersey, also vacant. Rowland was directed to follow in 

( tanpbelTe track. Finley was sent to supply tin- new erection 
at Nottingham, and to go to Baltimore, and to Dover in Dela- 
ware. There being a great necessity in the valley, embracing 
Tredryffryn and Norriton, David Alexander was sent thither. 

A few weeks after, John Cross was called up and suspended; 
David Alexander probably died within a year. 

No notice is taken in the manuscri] I records of the fad 

Stated in another j. lace by Blair,* thai at this meeting, or tin- 
one iii August, Creaghead and his elder, Samuel Irwin, brought 

I . [>) leave tfa 

church. — Pi.. 



186 Webster's history of the 

in a proposal for the conjunct presbyteries to adopt the Solemn 
League and Covenant. He urged that neglect of it was the 
great cause of the decline of religion. They declined to com- 
ply, because the renewal of it was properly a national work, 
belonging to the three kingdoms, and not to two presbyteries. 
He immediately withdrew, and sounded the alarm on both 
sides of the Susquehanna, that the Westminster standards had 
never been adopted by either the synod or the presbyteries. 
The bond which had held the party together while contending 
with the synod was gone ; they had no occasion to unite to- 
gether against a majority; they began to make demands on 
each other. The Seceder and the Covenanter element worked 
freely and developed itself rapidly. Creaghead had been com- 
plained of by his people for introducing new terms of com- 
munion; he now opened a correspondence with the Reformed 
Presbytery* in Scotland, to send ministers to Pennsylvania, 
for there were many who had embraced all the principles of 
"the mountain men," and others had emigrated to this country 
who at home had been associated with the Society people in 
their native land. There were others, still more numerous, but 
for the time more quiescent, who clung to the peculiarities of 
the Associate Presbytery, and who were not behind the very 
chiefest of them in their repugnance to the Burgess Oath, and 
in their abhorrence of a defective or mutilated testimony 
against all errors, individual and national, of every degree of 
importance. The Tennents were correspondents of the Ers- 
kines ; so also was Whitefield, and in his letters showed the 
greatest interest in the movements of the Seceders; and it was 
doubtless a widely-current rumour, that he was going to Scot- 
land at their solicitation to espouse their cause. Almost at 
the very time the conjunct presbyteries met in Philadelphia, 
Whitefield met with the Associate ministers in Edinburgh, and 
the silver cord was loosed which bound him in endearing friend- 
ship to the Erskines. He could not consent to unite himself 
as a member with them, or be confined by their methods in 
intercourse with other denominations. The breachf took place 



* Sketch of the Reformed Presbyterian Church in America, by Dr. J. N. McLeod. 
f Fraser's Life of Erskine ; Philips's Whitefield ; McKerrow's History of the 
Secession Church. 



PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH IX AMERICA. 1ST 

August 5, 1741 ; and ou the 8th, he wrote to Thomas Noble, 
►f New York, detailing the particulars and desiring them 
to be communicated to the Tennents. "I am glad to hear the 
work of the Lord prospers in their hands, and that they intend 
to meet La a synod by themselves. Their catholic spirit will 
do good." 

In the very month of the rupture, Davenport went through 
.traordinary career in Connecticut. He was no wild en- 
thusiast, but a grave man, of great piety, of unblemished life; 
a powerful reasoner, no mean poet, and, what was of great im- 
portance in that colony, of one of its most ancient and honour- 
able families. It is monstrous to pretend that he had a capti- 
vating eloquence, or could preach so as to depict as if before 
them hung and groaned the bleeding Saviour.* His sermons 
plain, not striking; his exhortations stirring and warm, 
but uttered in a strange singing tone that was intolerable to 
the careless, bat which moved amazingly the feelings of the 
newly awakened, and of all who sympathised with him. De- 
Donncing nan as unconverted, walking with his hearers in 

procession through the streets and from tOWn to town, singing 

'•human composures," or hymns of his own composing; burn- 
ioua books and gay apparel in one bonfire, and setting 
uj. separate meetings: tin sc, with the delusive notions of the 
Witness of the Spirit, brought him into contempt and caused 
hi.- good to be evil Spoken o£ Friends and foes were thrown 
ber in opposition to him, and good men by their zeal 
: him Strengthened the hands of evil-doers, and Led many 
to separate from the standing order, and forsake the ministra- 
■ if faithful pastoiSi 
A few Moravians had been in Pennsylvania, New Jersey; 
and New York, tor Bevecal yean. Peter Boebler was at skip- 
pack, in IT;)'.'; and in November, 1741, Counl Zinaendorff ar- 
rived: he laid aside all mark of rank, and lived as a Lutheran 
minister, with the came of Von Thurnstein. He appeared 
before the governor in Philadelphia, and, in the presence of 

I. 'i. Franklin, Allen, and other persons of distinction, 

denned bis position in a Latin oration; he also made several 



» Gbl - II)-' •!•:■• ft] t\ N'W 

II IT. 11. 



188 Webster's history of the 

statements of his intentions in French. Logan* speaks of the 
Latin and the French as being wholly unlike any performances 
he had ever heard in either of those tongues. The brethren 
had, previously to the count's arrival, bought "a barony" called 
Nazareth, which Whitefield had once contracted for, to found 
a home for coloured persons, and which, after having laid the 
foundation of a building, he had given up. When Zinzendorif 
came to the Brethren on the Lehigh, they met for worship in 
a stable, and called the place Bethlehem. He visited the Ger- 
mans in Oley and Tulpehocken, and, finding that one of the 
Brethren had joined the "Sieben Taegers" in the Kloster at 
Ephrata, he went thither. He soon set forward measures for 
gathering the pious of the numerous German sectsf into a 
yearly conference for friendly religious intercourse. The prin- 
cipal obstruction in the way was the belief of some that he 
was an immoral man, who had fled from his own country, and 
the impression in others that he was the Beast of the Revela- 
tions. He made a great impression in New York and Phila- 
delphia, and drew many of Whitefield's chiefest friends after 
him. Dickinson, Tennent, and Finley all wrote against him, 
viewing his tenets as subversive alike of law and gospel. 

About this time, Rowland was indicted for horse-stealing, 
and acquitted on the testimony of William Tennent and two 
of the elders of the New-Side church of Hopewell. The wit- 
nesses were indicted for having procured his acquittal by wilful 
perjury; and popular indignation rose so high that Rowland 
left Hunterdon county, and settled at New Providence and 
Charlestown, in Pennsylvania. 

Amid all these painful circumstances, the stout heart of 
Gilbert Tennent shook; and he who had preached on the bene- 
fits of spiritual desertion learned the bitterness of it,| and 
trembled for his salvation. 



* Watson's Annals of Philadelphia; Translation of the Count's Letter, by Rev. 
Mr. Reading, of Appoquinimy ; Answers to Queries proposed to the Count; Curious 
and astounding documents in Philadelphia papers of 1741, '42, '43. 

■j- Jackson's Life of Zinzendorif. 

J MS. Letter of D. Brainerd to Bellamy, February 4, 1742-3: — "I'm more dead 
to the world than ever ; but I'm afraid I shall fall into the same state dear Mr. Ten- 
nent has been in, so amuse myself with something, tho' I satisfie myself with 
nothing." 



PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH IN AMERICA. 189 

"Whitefield heard of his distressed state, and wrote to hiin 
from 

"Gloucester, England. February 5. 1742. 

"I bless God for delivering Brother Rowland out of the 
hands of his enemies. I am persuaded he will deliver your 
brother William also. By your desertion and temptations, I 
believe God is preparing you for a fresh work. I believe you 
would be better it' you would always evangelize." 

The following letter will serve to illustrate the state of Mr. 
Teimeiit's mind at this period: — 

"GILBERT TENNENT* TO JONA. DICKINSON. 

"February 12, 1742. 

''I have many afflicting thoughts about the debates which 
have subsisted in our synod for some time. I would to God 
the breach were healed, were it the will of the Almighty. As 
for my own part, wherein I have mismanaged in doing what I 
did, 1 do l„,k apon it to be my duty, and should be willing to 
acknowledge it in the openest manner. I cannot justify the 

rive heal of temper which has sometime appeared in my 
conduct I have been of late, Bince I returned from New 
j _ ind, visited with much spiritual desertion and distresses 
of various kinds, coming in a thick and almosl continual suc- 

■ m, which have given me a greater discovery of myself 

than I think 1 ever had before. These things, with the trial f 

ot' the Moravian-, have given me a clear view of the danger 
• ry thing which tends to enthusiasm and division in the 
visible church. 1 think that while the enthusiastical Moravians, 
and Long-beards or Pietists, are uniting their bodies, (no doubt 
{•> increase their strength and render themselves more consider- 
able,) it Lb a shame thai the ministers who are in the main of 
Bound principle- in religion Bhould be divided and quarrelling. 
Alae for it! my soul is Bick forthese thing-. 1 wish that aome 

* Published in Pennsylrai .1 reprinted in Hodge's History. 

• my, M : 1 1 ■ 1 1 -j'',, 1748, writes us follows :—" The Morarian 

rer; end f<>r my part I'm totally lost fend non- 

;luit I I'ti'l'iiv.iir n« in 1 1 .- li m possible to suspend my judgment 

at>"Ut 'em, foe 1 ennnot tell whether they fere eminent Christians, "r whethi r their 

oonduct i-< nil underhandtd policy end an i on. The more l talked to 

. the more I wu lost fend puisled; and )• t Mr. ,\. ble mnst i>o 

::in." 



190 Webster's history of the 

scriptural methods could be fallen upon to put an end to these 
confusions. Some time since I felt a disposition to fall on my 
knees, if I had opportunity, to entreat them to be at peace. 

"I remain, with all due honour and respect, your poor 
Worthless brother in the ministry. 

"P.S. — I break open this letter myself, to add my thoughts 
about some extraordinary things in Mr. Davenport's conduct. 
As to his making his judgment about the internal states of 
persons or their experience, a term of church fellowship, I 
believe it is unscriptural, and of awful tendency to rend and 
tear the church. It is bottomed upon a false base, — viz. : that 
a certain and infallible knowledge of the good estate of men 
is attainable in this life from their experience. The practice 
is schismatical, inasmuch as it sets up a term of communion 
which Christ has not fixed. The late method of setting up 
separate meetings upon the supposed unregeneracy of pastors 
is enthusiastical, proud, and schismatical. All that fear God 
ought to oppose it as a most dangerous engine to bring the 
churches into the most damnable errors and confusions. The 
practice is built upon a twofold false hypothesis : — infallibility 
of knowledge, and that unconverted ministers will be used as 
instruments of no good in the church. The practice of openly 
exposing ministers who are supposed to be unconverted, in 
public discourse, by particular application of times and places, 
serves only to provoke them instead of doing them any good, 
and declares our own arrogance. It is an unprecedented, divi- 
sial, and pernicious practice. It is lording it over our brethren 
to a degree superior to what any prelate has pretended, since 
the coming of Christ, so far as I know, the pope only excepted ; 
though I really do not remember to have read that the pope 
went on at this rate. The sending out of unlearned men to 
teach others upon the supposition of their piety in ordinary 
cases seems to bring the ministry into contempt, to cherish 
enthusiasm, and bring all into confusion. "Whatever fair face 
it may have, it is a most perverse practice. The practice of 
singing in the streets is a piece of weakness and enthusiastical 
ostentation. 

"I wish you success, dear sir, in your journey; my soul is 
grieved for such enthusiastical fooleries. They portend much 
mischief to the poor church of God if they be not seasonably 



PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH IN AMERICA. 101 

checked. May your labours be blessed for that end ! I must 
also express my abhorrence of all pretence to immediate inspi- 
ration or following immediate impulses, as an enthusiastieal, 
perilous igm8-fcdHU8." 

Well might " Philalethes" array Gilbert against Tennent, 
when this letter issued from the press, at the very time the 
third edition of the Nottingham Sermon appeared. How 
Tennent could so entirely have forgotten his own guiltiness 
in the main with Davenport, is not to be conjectured. The 
letter is like David's condemnation to death of the rich man 
who furnished his guest with a feast on the only lamb of his 
poor neighbour. Did Dickinson reply with Nathan's rebuke 
to him? Probably he was so rejoiced to be furnished for his 
journey with this weapon of proof, that he forgot to notice 
the inconsistency. 

Dickinson journeyed through New England to Boston; 
"for they were wont in old time to say, 'Surely they will ask 
counsel at Abel,' and bo they ended Che matter." He also, in 
concert with Edwards and Burr, used his influence to have 
Brainerd restored to his standing in Yale College, but to no 
purpose. The determination seems to have been formed in 
eonsnltation at Boston to make the withdrawmsnl of the pro- 
test the indispensable prerequisite to further continuance in 
union with the Philadelphia Synod, or to demanding an ac- 
knowledgment from the Brunswick party of their errors or 
missteps. This was in effect to constitute the synod as it' the 
separation had never taken place, and to take up the whole 

controversy as i' -t I on the morning of dune 1, 1741. The 

letter of Tennenl to Dickinson,* with others of Like Import 
to Pemberton and Whiiefield, Btrongly impelled them to gra- 
tify bim in this tender point ; and the conjunct Presbyterians, 
having cleared themselves of all receding from Presbyterian 

principles, and from all eoncurrence in any of tin- offensive 

things in the praetioes or teachings of Oross, Oreaghead, and 
lied the New Xork brethren thai they wrere 



♦ Tli' toed by DioUoMn in tli- hinda of Clap, of N< w Keren, who 

hri'l it printed. Tin- letten t'/ Wbitefield end Pemberton we b»T« not 



192 Webster's history of the 

clear of tlie charges in the protest, of promoting anarchy and 
inflaming enthusiasm. 

In April, 1742, Tennent preached in New York his sermons 
against the Moravians ; he used hardly stronger language than 
Dickinson, who pictured the Moravians as libertines in his "Dis- 
play of Grace." Tennent uttered his own condemnation in 
every syllable in which he exposed and denounced them ; and 
the paragraphs of the Nottingham Sermon, placed in parallel 
columns with others from the Moravian Sermon, furnish a 
remarkable specimen of recantation made unconsciously. 
Among the memorable things of that day, is the fact that 
Tennent saw no self-contradiction in the two productions ; 
and that neither he nor Blair nor any of their party inter- 
preted their apology as Thomson did, or saw in it any of 
the anarchical or heterodox principles, which, to every other 
person, glare on the surface and are the very soul of it. 

The synod met in Philadelphia in May, 1742, the Brunswick 
brethren being in town, with their newly-ordained co-presby- 
ters and a full quota of elders. Gillespie and Hutcheson were 
absent. Of New York Presbytery, there were present Dick- 
inson and his elder, David Whitehead, Pemberton and his 
elder, Nathaniel Hazard, Pierson and his elder, John Ball, 
Simon Horton, of Connecticut Farms, and his elder, Timothy 
Whitehead, Nutman, (without charge,) Leonard, of Goshen, 
and Azariah Horton, the missionary to the Long Island In- 
dians. Of Donegal Presbytery, there were Thomson, Boyd, 
Zanehy, Gavin, Black, Samuel Thomson, and Alexander 
McDowell, newly ordained as an evangelist. With them were 
the elders, — John Hally, Andrew Gray, Thomas Hope, Walter 
Caruth, George Davison, James McTire. Of Newcastle Pres- 
bytery, there were only two present, — viz. : Cathcart and 
Alison, with the elders, William Lindsay and Samuel Steel. 
From Lewes, only Jamison ; and the presbytery, being reduced 
to two by the death of Hook, was merged in Newcastle. Of 
Philadelphia Presbytery, there were Andrews and his elder, 
William Gray, R. Cross and his elder, John Cross, David 
Evans, Elmer and his elder, Jonathan Fithian, Cowell, 
McHenry and his elder, Samuel Hart, Samuel Evans, newly 
ordained pastor of Great Valley, and his elder, David Griffith, 



PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH IX AMERICA. 193 

and Guild, newly ordained at Hopewell, and his elder, Thomas 
Stidmore. 

Dickinson was chosen moderator, and Alison clerk. An- 
drews preached from 2 Cor. iv. 5. The absence of New York 
Presbytery last year was considered, and the excuses of some 
of the members sustained. 

The next day, Dickinson moved that a conference be held 
with the Brunswick brethren, to accommodate the difference 
and make op the unhappy breach. It was resolved to hold the 
rence at the usual place of meeting in the afternoon, and 
that t'<»ur of the abscutccs at the time of the divison, — Dick- 
inson, David Evans, Pierson, and Pemberton, — and four of 
'rotegters, — Cross, Thomson, Cathcart, and Alison, — with 
Andrews, should be a committee to try all methods consistent 
with gospel truth, to prepare the way for healing the breach. 
inference was BO tar encouraging* that, at the next morn- 

aion, the synod was resolved into an interloquiiur of 

ministers and elders, and the ejected brethren bad leave to 
bring with them those they had ordained, and whom the synod 

had not accepted a- members, with their respective elders. A 

gr» al <l<-:i! of time was spent to no purpose, the question being, 

'• Who should be judges in the case':" Tin' ejected brethren 
would submit it to the consideration of none but those who 
had not .-igned tin- protest; and the Protesters answered that 
they, with those who adhered to them, were the synod, act, d 
h in tin- ejection, and in doing so had only cast out such 

. judged had rendered themselves onworthy of member- 
ship by openly maintaining and practising things subversive 

of their constitution; and that, therefore, they would not be 
called to account by absent brethren <>r any judicature on 
earth, though they were willing to give the reasons of their 
conduct t't their absent brethren and the public, to consider 
and review it. Alison did not concur in this, hut entered on 
the minutes his dissent W<- agreed with the Protesters, that 
in infringement of their rights, for any absent members 
to pretend to oal] the body to an account, and to judge of the 
their proceedings; vet he firmly believed it to be 



ins. (letter hi P«nwylT»nl I i.-nncnt 

VMMd willing to make a retroctiou a^ full n* DOOU !>'• ' 

13 



194 Webster's history of the 

the synod's duty, to submit them to a review of the next synod. 
Though looking on it as giving up some of their rights, it was 
his earnest desire, and he insisted that the merits of the synod's 
action in the exclusion be fairly tried by the present synod, to 
manifest the justness of the proceedings. 

On the next day, two hours were again spent in an interlo- 
quitur, and on Monday the New York Presbytery brought in 
their protest, in which Elmer joined them. 1. They declare 
the exclusion without previous trial to be an illegal and un- 
precedented procedure, contrary to the rules of the gospel, 
and subversive of our excellent constitution. 2. They con- 
demn the conduct of the Protesters in refusing to have the 
legality of the exclusion tried by the present synod. 3. They 
demand that all who were excluded, with their adherents, are 
to be owned as members of synod until excluded by fair and 
impartial process. 4. They protest against all passages in any 
pamphlets lately published in these parts, which seem to reflect 
on the work of divine power and grace, carried on in so won- 
derful a manner in many of our congregations, and declare to 
all the world, that we look upon it to be the indispensable 
duty of all our ministers to encourage that glorious work with 
their most faithful and diligent endeavours. 5. With equal 
solemnity, they protested against all divisive and irregular 
methods and practices, by which the peace and good order of 
our churches have been broken in upon. 

This protest is dated on the preceding Saturday. Three 
elders joined in it: — the two Whiteheads and Nathaniel 
Hazard. The synod took no notice of it, and adjourned, after 
entering Alison's concurrence with it in the second article, to 
the next year. A note enclosed in brackets was appended to 
the protestation, declaring the first article to be untrue ; for 
the synod, by a vote, declared they were to be excluded if 
they refused to give satisfaction for the points complained of; 
and upon this they withdrew. 

This places the matter in its true light. The Protesters 
demanded of the synod that the Brunswick party should be 
excluded, unless they repented and desisted from their irre- 
gular and divisive methods. The roll being called, it appeared 
that the majority sustained them in their demand. On this, 
the Brunswick party withdrew. 



PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH IN AMERICA. 195 

They were as unprepared to comply with the demand in 
1742 as in the preceding year, and determined to persevere ; 
for they had never intermitted them in the methods con- 
demned so strongly by the .New York brethren and the Pro- 
testers. The labour of Dickinson and his estimable associates 
teems to have been spent solely in endeavouring to bring the 
Protesters to repentance, all that had been done on the other 
side, being passed over in a closing clause of their paper. 
Continued union would have been as absurd and mischievous 
as before the protest. There was no movement on the part 
of the conjunct presbyteries, to allay the uneasiness their pro- 
ceedings had produced, or to soften the vindictive asperity of 
their language or their action towards the Old Side and their 
adherents. The separation in Philadelphia was completed, 
ami Samuel Finley preached six months to the new congrega- 
tion, and Gilbert Tennent was installed by his presbytery over 
it. The new erections were supplied as frequently as possible; 
pastors were given to them, ami evangelists ordained to minis- 
ter to them ami to go on distant missions. 

Tennent's letter to Dickinson was published in August, 
and was followed by David Evans's remarks, showing how 
both it and the " Declaration of the Boston Ministers in Rela- 
tion t<» Davenport" justified the "Trotest" and "our watchful 
Querists." Tennent hastened to send forth an explanation of 
it, which was really a retraction of it. The third edition of 
0m " Nottingham Sermon" appeared. If Davenport had 
preached or published it, it would have been denounced by 
41 all that fear God" as fanatical and insane, lie would have 
been compelled, before being restored to standing in the 
church, to have retracted explicitly almost every sentiment it 
contained. For all that Davenport did in his frenzy, with 
"the Long fever and the unceasing How of the oankery 
humour," was mild when compared with the denunciations 
which Tennent ottered, and published ami republished in all 
soberness ami cold blood. No retraction was demanded of 
Tennent. lie denied Bolemnly thai lie had ever urged people 

to Keparate from their pastors if they deemed them unworthy; 

yet. in his printed letter to Franklin in September, L742/ he 

* Quoted »>y Dr. Hodge. 



196 Webster's history of the 

said, " I see not how any who fear God can sit contentedly 
under their ministrations" (whom he supposed to have con- 
spired in opposing the work and servants of God) "without 
becoming accessory to their crimson guilt." The "Exa- 
miner; or, Gilbert versus Tennent," was too thorough an ex- 
posure, in his own words, of his inconsistencies and con- 
tradictions, for him to pass over. In his " Examiner Exa- 
mined" he retracted nothing, but renewed some of his most 
cruel, unsupported, and sweeping charges. He had said, in 
the " Sermon on an Unconverted Ministry," " Let those who 
live under the ministry of dead men, whether they have the 
form of religion or not, repair to the living." To assert that 
this was a call to set up separate meetings on the supposition 
the ministers were unconverted, or even contentedly unsuc- 
cessful in their work, he pronounced a dreadful instance of 
eftronted impiety, and that all the world knew it to be a 
groundless and crimson calumuy imputed to him by the 
enemies of the power of religion. The " outgate" from the 
dilemma was, he was charged with encouraging separation 
from ministers merely because unconverted; while he had 
only done so where the ministers were opposers of the work 
of God. "It is the necessity of their wretched cause that 
urges those unhappy men to take such sinful and scandalous 
methods to cloak their horrible wickedness in opposing God's 

work Is not this the reason why a work of conviction 

and conversion has been so rarely heard of in the churches till 
of late ? — that the bulk of her spiritual guides are stone-blind 
and stone-dead ? . . . . Consider that there is no probability of 
your getting good by the ministry of Pharisees ; for, take them 
first and last, they do more harm than good. When the life of 
piety comes near their quarters, they rise up in arms against it 
as a common enemy that discovers and condemns their craft 
and hypocrisy. And with what art, rhetoric, and appearances of 
piety, will they varnish their opposition of Christ's kingdom!" 
If unconverted, of course they would oppose the work of 
God, and, consequently, were to be forsaken. That the "Ser- 
mon" had a reference to his brethren, he openly admitted in 
1743. " When I composed it, I expected it would be judged 
by that tribe it detected, as guilty of scandalum magnatum, as 
worthy of stripes and of bonds. I supposed it would be like 



PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH IN AMERICA. 197 

rousing a wasp's nest; and I have found it according to my 
expectations." At that time, also, he said, "Give me leave 
also to propose this query to Mr. Thomson and his associates: — 
"Whether it was because such as were convinced of sin had 
generally a less esteem for his ministry and theirs, that he, 
and some at least of them, have so fiercely opposed the 
blessed operations of the Holy Ghost in convincing and 
alarming a secure world? For my own part, I must say, I 
humbly conceive that to be the secret of the story of their 
opposition, the bottom of the mystery, the true spring of their 
malignant contending against vital godliness. The false and 
ungenerous method, as well as long continuance of their op- 
position to the work of God, under so much advantage of 
light and evidence in favour of it, together with their dan- 
gerous errors, free me from the just imputation of rash 
judging in thinking as I have expressed." They opposed 
Qod'fl work by their " false and dangerous Moravian doctrine 
of conviction. Witness Mr. Thomson's detestable and incon j 
Bistonl performance oa that subject, which divers leaders of 
that schismataca] party have expressed their approbation of) 
Hardly any thing can be invented that has a more direct 
tendency to destroy the common operations of God's Spirit 
and keep men from Jesus than what Mr. Thomson has ex- 
pressed in that performance.'' Croswell had not need more 
unbounded language in describing Dickinson's "Display of 
Grace,'' 

Tennent affronted the "Old Side" by his contempt no less 
than by his invectives. The "Protesters" said, ^Through 
their rash judging and condemning all who <l<> not join with 
them, which lias been their constant practice in their itinera- 
tions through our congregations, most of them arc so shat- 
tered, divided, and shaken in their principles, that we have 
neither the comfort or success we had heretofore." Ee re- 
marked on this : — " As to their comfort, wc beHeve them ; but 
respecting their success, we thought it had been the same as 
formerly, for truly this is the first time we ever heard of the 
as of most of them." 

Hen must have had rare constitutions and aneqnalled 
sensibilities who could regard the author of such attacks on 
them with calmness, or v. ho could feel confidence in the 



198 Webster's history of the 

mediation of those who upheld his right to membership with 
them. 

As an illustration of this mild and forbearing spirit, the 
following letter will serve as an example : — 

ANDREWS TO PIERSON.* 

"Philadelphia, August 3, 1742. 

" Rev. and Dear Sir : — 

"As you desired me, when here last, to give you account 
of things that should happen here from time to time, so, old 
friendship, conscience of duty, and inclination, prompt me to 
gratify you in that regard. Being now entered into the 
sixty-ninth year of my life, — and so know it can't be long 
before, in the course of nature, I shall be called to give up 
my account, — and being lately threatened with death by a sur- 
feit contracted by the excessive heat, (from which indisposi- 
tion I am scarcely recovered,) I thought myself obliged to 
open my heart and ease my mind a little to you. And, as 
what I am about to say will be the entire fruit of brotherly 
love and Christian friendship, I hope and desire that, though 
my sentiments may not be agreeable to yours, and may seem 
to bear too hard on some late transactions, yet, considering 
our state of imperfection, in which none is secured from being 
sometimes deceived, I trust your piety and candour will cause 
you to put the best of constructions upon them. I must, 
therefore, dear brother, tell you, that, according to. my opinion 
and that of all sober, judicious, unprejudiced persons I speak 
with about it, the ' Protest' given in last synod is chargeable 
with at least three imperfections. I don't mean simply as to 
the matters of complaint contained in it, (those against whom 
it is levelled must, in that respect, answer for themselves ;) 
but that any thing of that nature should be exhibited at that 
time seems to me liable to no mean exceptions. In short, 
then, I take it to have been needless, unseasonable, and 
unkind. 

" 1. I take it to have been altogether needless; for I cannot 
apprehend any need or necessity can be pretended for it, 
unless it were to tell the world you were not guilty, or had no 

* Transcribed from the original, in the hands of Dr. Sprague. 



PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH IN AMERICA. 199 

band in the excluding protestation which you represent as a 
criminal action. If this were the reason (and I can see no 
other of any consequence,) nothing could be more need- 
less. Everybody knew you were not here when it was done, 
and, therefore, could not possibly have any hand in it. But 
it may be replied, if we hadn't done as we did, people might 
think we agreed to it or connived at it. I answer, your dis- 
approbation might have been declared in synod, and entered 
on the minutes, without such a public and noisy procedure, 
which would have sufficiently saved your credit, if there was 
any danger of it, — as I apprehend there was none, for I 
never heard of any thing suggested that had the least hint 
that way. 

" 2. To me it appears to have been egregiously unseasonable. 
We were at that time, and some time before, on motions and 
endeavours — as was, I think, on all hands professed — about 
ways and means of accommodation and healing the doleful 
rent and divisions among us. Now, in my poor judgment, 
that transaction had a direct tendency to prevent, or at least 
retard. Let it be considered that all men have their wcak- 
- and imperfections; and that an inclination not to be 
undervalued or despised more or less obtains with all men. 
Now, let anybody look impartially into the nature and ten- 
dency of that protestation, and see whether it hath not a 
direct tendency — especially considering the public clamorous 
circumstances of it — to exasperate the spirits of the former 
' Protesters,' and render them abundantly more unfit and 
indisposed for accommodation and passing by grievances than 
they were before. I desire you will not take it amiss if I tell 
you that it appeara to me in thai aspect, and not to me only, 
but to all indifferent persons I hear Bpeak of it. It appears 
t > me a Btumbling-block in the way of peace and concord, 
(though I don't believe designed so,) and the mosl material 

one of that nature which has been thrown in the way all 

along, not so much from the nature of the thing, as the emi- 
nent quality of Borne persons concerned in it. My dear brother, 
Look over it again, and Bay if it don't look like a design, 

(though I won't Buffer myself to imagine it was so,) — it' it 

don't carry an aspect of an intention to disgrace, vilify, and 
ruffle the passions of the i Protesters, 1 and consequently, i"it 



200 Webster's history of the 

them out of humour, and indisposed for that glorious and 
necessary work of coalition which all profess to he aiming at? 
My dear friend, I shall look upon it as my duty, and hope I 
shall not be wanting in endeavours, to prevent such an evil 
effect; but if the transaction be looked on with an impartial 
eye it bears too much of that aspect. I am willing to think 
myself mistaken, not being willing to harbour any wrong 
notions of my old, dear, valuable friends. 

" 3. As for the third particular, I think myself equally con- 
cerned with my neighbours, — viz. : unkindness. I am at a 
loss to make the matter agree with the friendship that is pro- 
fessed. Did not you know how sorely we have been handled, 
and what loads of affliction we have laboured under, and par- 
ticularly myself, your old, sincere, unfeigned friend and bro- 
ther, by the enormous doings of these men? Did not you 
know these things, which we have suffered, to the wounding 
of our souls, disturbance of our peace, and almost to death ? 
Surely you could not be altogether ignorant of it. If so, to do 
a thing, as if designed on purpose to throw us in the dirt, and 
give our enemies, that have sought our ruin and to deprive us 
of all comfort of life, advantage to trample on us and render 
us despicable and useless in the world, — I say, it looks very 
strange from friends. I bless God that I do not perceive it 
hath done us any harm as to our particular charge and busi- 
ness, which is, to me, a wonderful providence; but if you had 
come on purpose to weaken our hands, I do not see how a 
more direct method could have been taken. Suppose we were 
in the wrong in our sentiments, and don't agree with you in 
our notions of some men and things : as long as we profess 
sincerity and conscience, and are in other things, I hope, 
tolerably regular, — and nobody can convict us of hypocrisy 
in our profession, — one would have expected pity from old 
friends, and not such a blow under the fifth rib, when there 
was really no need of it, by opening a door to let in our ene- 
mies to devour us. Truly, my dear brother, it appears asto- 
nishing to me. But I will stop my pen, (perhaps it has run 
too far already,) and tell you my thoughts. I don't impute 
it to old friends : it was chiefly the transaction of one man, 
who, in an ostentations, noisy manner — so my old friends shall 
be such still ; some say dux fcemina facti; if so, more is the 



PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH IN AMERICA. 201 

pity. I was going for an appendix to compare the former pro- 
test (wherein I had no hand) with this, and see if I could not 
make this look as black as that. But I forbear, and pray the 
Lord open all our eyes, rectify our mistakes, and keep us from 
being biassed by human favour, affection, or example, but 
sincerely follow the things that tend to true Christian peace 
and truth, that so we may give in our account with joy. 

" Let there be no diminution of affection or stagnation of 
correspondence. 

"Let us compassionate each other's weaknesses; and, if you 
reckon me, as Gilbert does, an enemy to God's work, or call 
me devil, my Christian charity towards my good old friends 
shall, I hope, remain inviolate. Pray, take in good part these 
uncouth lines, because the effort of the sincere affection and to 
deliver the soul of 

"Your old friend and brother, 

" J. Andrews. 

"You may let this go to next town, tied nan ultra . Having 
heard the Moravians twice, think their doctrine the same as 
Whiteneld'a when he first came here. Divers dead last week 
of the heat. J 'ray the Lord make QS ready." 

Tn New England and parts adjacent, while many separated 
from the standing order, and became strict Congregatibnalists, 
a number invoked councils to relieve them from lukewarm or 
insufficient pastors, or to countenance them in Banning new 
congregations. 

The Iii-h Presbyterians there, were not united. The Rev. 
John Oaldwell preached in the old church of Londonderry, 
N.I!., on the Trial of the Spirits; and the Rev. David Mcdre- 

goire, of the BOCOnd church in the town, to whom "the 

wondrous work now making its triumphant progress through 
our land was agreeable," preached on the same text with widely 
different do. ■trine and inferences. Roth sermons were printed. 
Oaldwell, during Davenport's Btay in Boston, preached before 
the Presbytery of Boston, in the (Trench meeting-house, a 
sermon on the false prophets, full of personal allusion 
incidents and instances taken from Wnitefield's writings and 
of his friends. Tennent had described the old Pharisees 



202 Webster's history of the 

as having a fair and strict outside, but being full of pride, 
policy, malice, ignorance, covetousness, and bigotry to human 
inventions in religious matters; and that those that have 
covetously and cruelly crept into the ministry in swarms and 
crowds, were as like those of old, as one crow's egg is like 
another. Caldwell described false teachers as laying aside 
reason, opposing, contradicting, and endeavouring to bring 
into disgrace the ministry of God's appointment; speaking 
loud, like Baal's prophets ; presumptuous, throwing defiance at 
Satan, and saying "Why sleepest thou?" and being in some 
or more particulars answerable to the characters given in 
2 Pet. ii. 10, and "turning the grace of God into lascivious- 
ness." Such he declared the whole tribe of evangelists and 
itinerants to be. It was, in the highest degree, merciless and 
unjust. Caldwell has left these two sermons; but, besides 
these, we know nothing of him, and little or nothing of those 
who acted with him. 

The expression of religious joy by a hearty laugh during 
divine service, was quite as offensive to some, as the fits into 
which Satan cast several in Philadelphia were to Whitefield. 
Lay exhorters rose up in abundance in the East; and, though 
Tennent condemned the practice of sending them forth as 
perverse and unjustifiable, yet the names of several* are given 
who, under his auspices, went out to supply the lack of service 
of the plastered hypocrites. 

Creaghead published his manifesto or declaration of prin- 
ciples, and formed, after the mode of the Society people in 
Scotland, praying-societies in many places. A part of his 
congregation forsook him to receive supplies from Donegal 
Presbytery ; another portion left him to remain with the New- 
Side ; and a third fraction adopted, with him, the distinctive 
tenets of the Cameronians. While in New England, New 
York, and New Jersey, there were opposers of the revivals, 
opposers of Davenport, and friends of his proceedings, each 
widely parted from the other; throughout Pennsylvania and 
the lower provinces there were Old-Side, New-Side, and Cove- 
nanter congregations worshipping in the same log meeting- 

* Lawyer Paine, Daniel Rogers, Samuel Thatcher. 



PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH IN AMERICA. 203 

house, at different hours or ou different days, and severed from 
each other as if by oceans. 

"The trial of the Moravians" continued. Pernberton* wrote 
to Doddridge that the Moravians tried to draw off the affec- 
tions of the people from the soundest and most zealous 
preachers; and the following extracts show that Tennent had 
his share of "the trial." 

WIIlTEFIELBf TO NOBLE, OF NEW YORK. 

'• Ki'iNuuitGH, September 2, 1742. 

"I have just Leon writing to our dear brother, Gilbert Ten- 
nent. Both your letters came to me at the same time, and, 
had I not been used to trials of that nature, would have affected 
me much. Dear Mr. Tennent speaks many things that I know 
are too true of the Moravian brethren; but his spirit seems to 
be too much heated, and I fear too much of his own wild fire 
is mixed up with that sacred lire of zeal which comes from 
God." 

" September 22. — Take heed that your getting acquainted 

with any new Bet of Christians does not insensibly lead you to 

despise others of your old acquaintance Principles of 

themselves, without the Spirit of God, will not unite any Bet 

Of men together." 

WIIITEFIELD TO DR. COLMAN, OF BOSTON. 

"September 24, 1742. 

"There seems to be Buoh a time in Philadelphia as we have 
had in England. I have wrote to Mr. Tennent. He, in a late 
letter, thinks me too charitable; but my conscience does not 
reproach me for that I go on preaching the cross and the 
r of the Redeemer, and desire to say as little as possible 
about others, leal I Bhould divert people's minds from the sim- 
plicity of the gospel. I have often found thai opposing, in- 
stead of hurting, makes erroneous people more considerable. 
This made me wish the Boston ministers would qoI Bay bo 
much about the exhorters, It will only Bet the people the 
more upon following them. 

Zinzendorff formed the English Moravian church in Phila- 

* Doddridge's Correspondence f WbiteBcld's Correspondence, 8 Tola. 



204 WEBSTER'S HISTORY OF THE 

delphia, December 31, 1742, and immediately left the city for 
Frankford, on his way to New York, to sail for Englaud. 

That fanaticism was making headway at this time in New 
England, the following extract of a letter from the Rector of 
Yale to Dickinson, dated March 14, 1743, will testify: — "I take 
the liberty to inform you of one pretty remarkable piece of 
news, — viz. : the Separatists or Antinomians at New London, 
under the conduct of Messrs. Croswell, Allen, Curtiss, &c, 
have sent for Mr. Davenport to embody them into a church. 
The next Sabbath after he came, they made a bonfire in the 
street, before Mr. Adams's meeting-house, just as the people 
were corning out, and burnt up your dialogues, sermons, &c, 
Mr. Adams's sermons, Russel's seven sermons, the Whole Duty 
of Man, the Old Testament, and sundry other such erroneous 
books. One of them made a prayer and exhortation over the 
bonfire, and told them it was a mercy they had escaped the 
errors contained in those books; for, if the} 7 had not, they 
would have been in the flames, as those books were. Mr. D.* 
also commanded Mr. Allen and Mr. Curtiss to pull off their 
gowns, and others their banyans, wiggs, short cloaks, &c. ; 
they accordingly pulled them oft" and laid them in a heap. But 
some said they had a revelation not to burn them; so, after 
some dispute, it was deferred." 

The synod met in 1743, the Brunswick party being also in 
town. Dickinson, Pemberton, Pierson, Burr, and Nutman, 
of New York Presbytery, were present without elders. From 
Newcastle Presbytery, now embracing Lewes, there were Cath- 
cart, Alison, and Jamison ; Martin, and Thomas Evans being 
dead, Glasgow having embraced Episcopacy, and Carlisle 
ceasing to be mentioned. From Donegal Presbytery, there 
w r ere Thomson, Boyd, Black, Elder, Zauchy, McDowell, and 
the newly-ordained ministers, Bell and Hyndman. There 
were also eight elders. From Philadelphia Presbytery, there 
were Andrews and his elder, "William Gray; Robert Cross; 
Elmer and his elder, John Ogden; Cowell; McHenry and 



* Transcribed from E. Hazard's MSS. Brainerd wrote to Bellamy, March 26, 
1743: — "Mr. Davenport's conduct makes a terrible noise at New York and the 
Jerseys ; where, 'tis affirmed, he has burnt the Old Testament among other books." 



PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH IX AMERICA. 205 

his elder, Samuel Hart; and S. Evans and his elder, David 
Griffith. 

Dickinson preached from 1 Cor. i. 10. Cowell was chosen 
moderator, and Alison clerk. Thomas Cookson, Esq., one of 
his Majesty's justices for Lancaster county, appeared, in the 
name of the governor, with a paper and an affidavit about it. 
All business was laid aside to hear the paper, and they unani- 
rnously declared their detestation of it, and that they knew 
not who was the author; and that Mr. Alexander Creaghead, 
to whom it was ascribed, "hath been no member of our society 
for some time past, nor do we acknowledge him as such." 

Dickinson, Pemberton, Alison, and Cowell drew up an ad- 
dress to the governor, which the synod approved, and ap- 
pointed Andrews, Cross, Cathcart, and the moderator to 
lit it, with a copy of the minute.* 

The meeting on Monday morning was adjourned till the 
afternoon of that day, that some proposals of peace and agree- 
ment might be prepared and sent to the Brunswick party. 
These proposals were sent in an extra-judicial way by Burr, 
and were in substance: — 1. That they recant the principles of 
their Apology, and engage to submit to agreements ami COB* 
clnsione adopted by the majority of the synod. -2. That they 
license only those who submit to the synod's rule or an e»|iiiva- 
l<-iit. and give Dp those licensed or ordained without such sub- 
mission, to be examined by the synod, and promise to hold no 
ministerial communion with those of them who refuse submis- 
sion, or who being examined arc found deficient. '■). That 
they will neither intrude or send missionaries within fixed 
ral charges, nor encourage separation, nor supply with 
preaching the societies that have separated, but will declare 
all such practices pernicious and anti-presbyterian* -1. That, 
until censured on proper judicial process, they will in no way 
diminish any minister's character, nor claim she right to judge 
of men's spiritual states towards Gtod, If sound in faith and of 
a good lite. ",. That they renounce the tenets of the Notting- 
ham Sermon, such as the allowance to church members to 
guess at their pastor's spiritual state, and on thk guess without 

further trial to leave him as graceless. fj. That they aekm.w- 

' Print..-,] in Dni.Jf.r.l- W< kh Mercury. 



206 Webster's history of the 

ledge their guiltiness in these things, and that, though they 
may have been influenced in doing them by zeal to promote a 
work of grace, they are convinced these practices have had a 
dreadful tendency to promote divisions and disturb the church. 
7. That, whether they accept of these terms or not, they are 
welcome to table charges in the proper judicature against any 
of us, and that r if they accept these terms or any other that 
they and we can devise, all other grounds of complaint shall 
be removed by public trial, or by such method as they or we 
shall determine. These proposals, except the first and second, 
are evidently identical with the acknowledgments made by 
Tennent in his letter to Dickinson. They took him at his 
word, and offered reconciliation on the terms of his own choos- 
ing. On meeting in the afternoon, the Brunswick party sent 
for answer, that they judge that there can be no regular method 
of reconciliation until the illegal protest be withdrawn ; that 
they and we may be both upon an equal footing in the regular 
trial of the difference. They alleged that there were misre- 
presentations and unreasonable demands, and that they had 
several charges in which they must have satisfaction before 
they could come into stated union with them. 

The New York Presbytery had prepared and sent proposals 
of a different character. They asked: — 1. That the protest be 
withdrawn, and that the excluded members peaceably take 
their seats as formerly. The synod replied, that the protest 
was sufficiently justified by the reasons contained in it; and 
that the only sensible expedient for reunion was for the ex- 
cluded to give under their hands a statement how far they 
would comply with the demands of it, by acknowledging their 
misconduct and by giving satisfactory security against the 
fears of its being repeated. 2. They proposed that all who in 
future are privately educated for the ministry shall submit to 
the synod's rule or else go to a New England college for a 
year: their expenses there, if need be, to be defrayed out of 
the synod's fund. The synod replied, that if the excluded 
refused to give satisfaction for the past, it was unlikely any 
equivalent to the rule would be of service; and that the best 
method would be for them to state what satisfaction they are 
willing to give on this head. That no one shall close his 
pulpit against any brother, and no one encourage separation 



PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH IN AMERICA. 207 

or alienation from pastors. They replied, where love and 
esteem actually subsist, there is no need for such a right to 
be pleaded by the itinerant; and where jealousy and distrust 
exist, such a rule would undoubtedly increase them. That no 
minister ought to he allowed to itinerate unless by order of his 
presbytery, and by concurrence of the body into whose bounds 
he goes. That the separations were already made, and that 
those concerned in them ought to be required to return to 
their pastors, or be dealt with as disorderly. 4. That if any 
one has or thinks he has ground for any complaint against a 
brother, he shall privately seek to have it removed ; and that 
on failing, he may cite him to appear before his presbytery or 
the synod or its commission. They replied, this was the rule 
already, and that the natural method was the best, to bring 
every ease before the next highest judicature. 5. That all 
treat one another as if do difference had ever existed. They 
replied, this was impossible until repentance were shown and 
security given ; and was unscriptural, for we are required to 
rebuke them that sin, and avoid the author of division. 0. 
They urged, that at this Bession some plan of accommodation 
should be adopted, but that it' none could be agreed on, then 
tiny asked the Bynod to give leave to as many of their mem- 
bers as pleased to erect a new synod, to be in communion 
with them, and yearly, by the interchange of two correspond- 
ents, to consuH the general interest of religion in these parts. 
They refused on the ground thai this would be authorize and 
perpetuate schism, and would be a continual temptation to 
each party to build op itself against the other; but thai if the 

nod should be erected, though they could not hut regard 

ii ai a contentious separation, yel they would endeavour to cul- 
a truly ( Ihristian and charitable disposition toward.- them, 
bo far as they could; for they added, they had reason to acknow- 
ledge thai the remains of corruption and uncharitablenese did 
to,, much and too often prevail over them. 

These proposals were unanimously rejected by the Bynod. 

<>n this, Dickinson, in behalf of bis co-presbyters, declared 
that they complained of no unfriendly or unbrotherly treatment 
from the bj aod to themselves, but that, as long as the Brunswick 
brethren were excluded, they could qoI Bee their way clear to 
bit and act as though we were the Synod of Philadelphia. 



208 Webster's history of the 

An answer to this paper was read ; but it was unanimously- 
agreed not to enter it on the record. 

The New York brethren had happily escaped the divisions 
that rent and tore the congregations in "West Jersey and Penn- 
sylvania ; they had seen much of the contending in New Eng- 
land, and sympathized with the moderate party which bore 
the cross-fire of the opposers of the revival and the favour- 
ers of extravagances. They had no occasion to burden them- 
selves with Saul's massive armour, and could not understand 
why the Protesters and their associates refused to harness them- 
selves in coats of mail which would render them helpless 
before the giants that were in those days. They approached 
the shield on the golden side, while the others saw no sign of 
any thing better than brass. They were at their ease, and could 
not have compassion on those whose flocks were scattered, and 
who met with reverence more rarely than with reviling. The 
New York terms of accommodation would have been rejected 
by their best friends in New England. Dr. Colman was not 
satisfied with Davenport's ample retraction, .till he added to it 
an explicit condemnation of intrusions. In July, 1743, a tes- 
timony in behalf of the revival, signed by many ministers in 
New England, contained this proviso: — That ministers do not 
invade the province of others, and in ordinary cases preach in 
another's parish without his knowledge and against his con- 
sent, nor encourage new and indiscreet young candidates to 
rush into particular places. Colman* and fourteen others 
concurred in the testimony, with the exception of the article 
of itinerancy, or ministers and others intruding into parishes 
without the consent of the pastors; "which great disorder we 
apprehend not sufficiently testified against." The New York 
terms proposed to sanction this itinerancy on the largest scale. 
The frankness on both sides is pleasing. The Protesters made 
their demands full and clear; each party understood how much 
was asked, and how much was yielded. 

In 1742, several of the back-inhabitants of Virginia suppli- 
cated the commission to ask the Scottish kirk to send them a 
probationer or a minister. The letter was written, but was 
not answered. McDowell, from Virginia, had been ordained as 

* Tracy's Great Awakening. 



PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH IN AMERICA. 209 

an evangelist, and sent to them ; and Hyndman was on this 
supplication ordained and sunt to them. 

In 1743, the synod laid before the General Assembly in 
Edinburgh the low and melancholy condition of the church for 
want of probationers to supply numerous vacancies, and for 
want of suitable encouragement of ministers in new settle- 
ments; and asked them to send probationers and ministers, 
and allow them some small support for a few years in new 
-. and also to aid in establishing a school. Alison and 
McDowell wrote to some gentlemen in Virginia, begging their 
interest to further the application* 

The Brunswick party had not been idle; they ordained 
Robinson and Campbell in 1742, and the next year, Finley, 
McKnight, Youngs, and Beatty. They also licensed Dean, 
and sent Treat to preach at Milford, in Connecticut, and heal 
separation there. Robinson went through the Valley of 
Virginia into North Carolina. an<l BpenJ two years in the new 
settlements there and beyond the Susquehanna. 

1 tovenport, having denounced the Boston ministers, was pre- 
Bented to the grand jury and by them declared to be insane, 
lb- offered himself in October, 1743, as a member of New 
Brunswick Presbytery; the people of Hopewell, New Jersey, 
petitioning that lie might supply them with a view to settle- 
ment The presbytery examined him, and, finding him bum- 
bled ami contrite for some of the things in which they thought 
him faulty, hut not in all, they could not allow a call to be 
| ated to him, but suffered the people to "improve" him 

for the next six months. 

Early in February, 1743-4, Gillespie" 1 waited upon N<- - 
oastte Presbytery, "convened :>t the New London trait, and 

then and there, in tin- presence of the Bald presbytery and of 

a very numerous congregation, confessed bis error and sin in 

leaving them, ami solemnly declared be was Barry In- hail ever 

joined with the new part v ; that he had a- ted ra.-ddy ami divi- 

sively, ami was led to it b\ tie' appearance of piety in some, 
and by not duly considering and comparing the protestation and 
the apology of the New Brunswick Presbytery. He though! 
thai tin- things laid to the charge of -aid presbytery, and 

11 



210 Webster's history op the 

as a ground of casting them ont, had not been tabled against 
them, nor they called to an account and tried before their 
exclusion. Whereas, upon a fair' and impartial review of the 
affair, he found there was a sufficient ground to cast them out 
in 1739, when they gave in their apology, because in it they 
argued for the subversion of the Presbyterian plan of govern- 
ment, and paved the way for all the anarchy and confusion 
that has followed since. The letter that he published to the 
Presbytery of New York, went upon a false foundation, as if 
the apology had not been tried ; and that, by their adhering to 
it and endeavouring to vindicate it, they deserved exclusion. 
He was received as a member with mutual joy and satis- 
faction." 

In 1744, none of New York Presbytery were present in 
synod, and they sent no further proposals. Pomeroy sent his 
excuse for absence, he being near his end. Gillespie appeared 
for the first time since the rupture. Hutcheson wrote to the 
synod expressing his views of the proceedings on both sides, 
and giving his advice. They sent a respectful reply to him by 
Alison. Jamison and Stevenson had been removed by death, 
Griffith and Steel had been ordained, Scougal received from 
Scotland, and Bell suspended. Newcastle Presbytery now 
had seven ministers, all present; there were five from Donegal 
and six from Philadelphia : there were fifteen elders. McHenry 
was chosen moderator. Many people of North Carolina re- 
quested the synod to take their desolate condition into consi- 
deration, and send one of their number to correspond with 
them. John Thomson, who was about settling in Virginia, 
was appointed, and travelled thither to preach to them and 
learn fully their condition. They also wrote to "Wales, that a 
probationer, speaking the language of the Principality, might 
be sent over. 

The brethren having agreed privately to establish a school, 
the synod took it under their care, and resolved to keep it 
open through the year, that all who please may have their 
children instructed gratis in the languages, philosophy, and 
divinity. It was to be supported by yearly congregational col- 
lections. Alison was chosen master, with a salary of twenty 
pounds, with leave to choose an usher, to whom they promised 
fifteen pounds. 



PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH IN AMERICA. 211 

The Bev. Mr. Dorsius, or Dorsey, of the Reformed Dutch 
church in Bucks county, from the deputies of Xorth and South 
Holland, desiring of the synod an account of the state of the 
High and Low Dutch churches in the province, and of the 
synod's churches, and whether they can be united in one 
synod, or whether the Dutch can be formed into a synod by 
themselves, — the synod wrote to the deputies of those synods 
and to the Scotch ministers in Rotterdam, giving the account 
and signifying their willingness to join with the Calvinist 
Dutch churches. They represented also the great want both 
pf High and Low Dutch ministers, and desired them to help 
in educating men for the ministry. 

The Brunswick party sent Blair to the synod, demanding 
that a portion of the fund be allowed them. They replied, 
that they saw in this no endeavour for peace or for healing 
the lamentable divisions; and that as they have by their con- 
duct forfeited all right to membership, their demand is highly 
unreasonable and unjust, and not to be complied with. 

Dickinson, Pierson, and Xntman, with Gillespie, were put 
on the commission. 

( »n the 8th of July, 1744, Davenport made a free, complete 
retraction of all his errors: — "I had the long fever and the 
cftnkery humor raging at once; my spirit was devoid of in- 
w\ki> peace, laying too much stress on externals, neglect- 
ing the heart, being full of impatience, pride, and arrogance." 
M His manner was bo changed; it was with such a mild, plea- 
sant, meek and bumble spirit, broken and contrite, as I scarce 
av exceeded or equalled. He asked pardon of those he 
had treated amiss, and in a large assembly made a public 
recantation of bis mistakes and offences:" 

In August, 17 1 1. Whitriieid arrived in New Bngland, and 
remained there till the spring. ( ra one occasion, while preach- 
ing al Webb's meeting-house to Boston, there was an outcry 
and greal confusion. In-. Ootman* wn.tr at once to him, not 
t.. encourage such things and mafee a parry for Btfoorhead, the 
yterian minister. Whitefield disclaimed any such idea-; 
and Column r< ] di<<l, wishing ''such things might be confined 
Us, where I alwfyi esteemed them bui the signs of the 

• 1180. of MaawchuBctu EDltortfltJ B 



212 Webster's history of the 

weakness and infirmity of minister and people." A body of 
people separated at Kewburyport, and subsequently became a 
Presbyterian church. When Whitefield preached in their 
new meeting-house, such was his kindness* on the head 
of separations, that he declared to the congregation before 
preaching, that he would not have appeared there, but be- 
cause of the snow, and the other places of worship being 
refused him. He also declared at that time against unscrip- 
tural separations. 

In June, 1745, the General Association of Connecticut}* 
declared, that Whitefield having been the promoter or faulty 
occasion of the prevailing disorders, it would be by no means 
advisable for any of our ministers to open their pulpits to him, 
during his progress through this government, or for any of 
our people to attend his administrations. 

The synod in 1745 was attended by Dickinson, Pierson, and 
Pemberton, with his elder, Xathaniel Hazard; all of Philadel- 
phia Presbytery but Guild ; all of Newcastle Presbytery, and 
only three — viz. : Thomson, Boyd, and Zanchy — from Donegal. 
There were thirteen elders. Cathcart was chosen moderator; 
Dickinson, Pierson, and Pemberton were put at the head of 
the commission. 

At the request of the Xew York brethren, a committee was 
appointed to confer with them and accommodate the difference 
between them. The committee did not succeed, and the synod 
spent much time in committee of the whole, and appointed 
Thomson, Alison, Griffith, Steel, and McDowell, to prepare and 
bring in a plan of union. As a preliminary, the Xew York 
brethren declared that they accounted only such of the Bruns- 
wick party as had been members of the synod, to be members 
now. 

The plan was prefaced by a narrative of the differences ; 
and, premising that the New York brethren proposed that 
all the members of the synod should subscribe the essential 
agreements on which the synod was established, they concur, 
and declare those agreements to be : — 1. In all prudential 
acts, every member shall either actively concur or peaceably 



* Noticed in all the papers of the day. 
f Trumbull's History of Connecticut. 



PRESBYTERIAN CHURCII IX AMERICA. 213 

submit to, and not counteract the determinations of tlie ma- 
jority ; or else withdraw if he have not freedom of con- 
science to comply. 2. Only the rules of the gospel and our 
known methods shall be used, when any one sees faultiness 
in his brother's life or doctrine. 3. Xo minister shall preach 
in another's charge, unless invited by him or appointed by 
the proper authority; and new erections in any regulated 
congregations shall neither be maintained or supported by 
any of our members. 4. None shall be admitted, without 
submitting to examination and subscribing these agree- 
ments. 5. That each member keep a day of fasting, to 
mourn the decline of religion and implore the blessing 
of God. 

The New York brethren immediately declared they would 
not be united with them on this plan, and desired a copy 
Of it for their ] presbytery. They proposed that they be 
allowed to form, with the consent of the synod, a new 
synod; that there may be a foundation for both bodies to 
a<t in mutual concert, and maintain love and brotherly 
kindness. The synod replied, that they saw no just ground 

for their withdrawal; yet, seeing they proposed to ered a 
new synod in the most rriendly manner possible, we Bhall 
endeavour to maintain Christian affection towards them and 

show it on all suitable occasions by correspondence and 
fellow-hip. 

Miiiut.-n.-~-; was necessary in Ihe detail of the measures 
which separated the New York Presbytery from the Protest- 
era, thai justice might be done to the character' of the latter, 
a- Christian men of g 1 report. They insisted on .me point 

only, to which the New York brethren could not fully GOU* 
Ben1 ; tor they eoneiirn-d in regarding those only as ineinhers 

of the synod who were so at the protestation. 411 ordained 
since, a- well as any ordained in disregard of the rule con- 
cerning candidates, were nol to be admitted as members of the 

synod, ev.-n on the withdrawal of the protest, until the ma- 
jority of the body eon. ente. 1. The hi n< h-ra nee, was the demand 

to amalgamate the old and New Bide congregations, as it' do 
separation bad taken place; to unsettle their pastors; and to 
compel the people to return to the old meeting-houses. The 
thing was impracticable; and, even if the Brunswick party 



214 Webster's history of the 

had faithfully used all their endeavours to effect it, their suc- 
cess would have amounted only to filling old hottles with the 
new fermenting liquor, merely to see them burst and waste 
the wines. 

It was a kind Providence that frustrated their well-meant 
endeavours for a reunion. Separation placed both parties in 
a position to see other's excellencies, and made them cordially 
desirous of drawing together. There was too much corrup- 
tion and contentiousness, and too frequent } T ieldings to it, in 
most of the Protesters and the excluded, to have rendered 
union comfortable. Many expedients might have been de- 
vised ; but it is a blessing that cometh of the Lord, " to make 
men of one mind in a house." The commission met at Bran- 
dywine, Delaware, on the 20th of August, and wrote to Presi- 
dent Clapp and the Trustees of Yale, who, in reply, expressed 
their readiness to aid them in sustaining their school, and 
inquired about the plan of it and the state of the synod. 
" Our poor undertaking has been so blessed by Providence 
as to exceed our expectations. Several ministers and gentle- 
men have helped us to books, to begin a library ; and we hope 
in time to obtain assistance from England, Ireland, and else- 
where, to found a college. Our fund for public uses is consi- 
derable ; but we have had no occasion to apply any of it to 
the school." They proposed to send their scholars to Yale, 
to be examined by the president and fellows, and treated only 
according to proficiency. 

The particulars are lost to us of the proposals interchanged 
between the New York and the Brunswick brethren, before 
they united in forming a union. Whitefield was in the 
country ; but he was not consulted,* although he was at 
New York very shortly before the new synod met at Eliza- 
bethtown. 

" At New York, Whitefield found the seed sown had sprung 
up abundantly, and at the east end of Long Island he saw 
many instances. Near Freehold, he preached, through an 
interpreter, to the Indians who had been converted under 
Brain erd, and saw nearly fifty in a school learning the Assem- 



* "His seeming to favour the Moravians causes our ministers to keep aloof 
from him." — Rev. Enos Ayres to Mr. Bellamy, September, 1745. MS. Letter. 



PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH IN AMERICA. 215 

My'fl Catechism. William Tenneut seemed to encourage the 
mission with his whole heart." 

"His party I found much on the advance," is all that 
Whjtefield says on the matter, so interesting and so important 
in its vast and happy results. 

Fifty persons on horseback escorted "Whitefield into Phila- 
delphia, where he found Gilbert Tennent settled ; and the trus- 
tees of the Great House offered him eight hundred pounds if 
he would preach for them six months iu the year. It appears 
that he urged Romainc and Dr. Ilaweis* to go and preach, 
in the Great House. He remained seven days in the city, — 
fr.>m the 13th to the 20th. 

The meeting to constitute the synod was large. Of Xew 
York Presbytery were present, Dickinson and his elder, 
Joseph Woodruffe ; Pemberton and his elder, Nathaniel Ha- 
zard ; Piersoft; Simon Horton ; Burr and his elder, Joseph 
Prndden : Johnes; Byram, of Mendham, aud his elder, Ben- 
jamin Leonard; Sturgeon, of Bedford, and his elder, John 
Ayrea : and A. Hortoau 

Of New Brunswick Presbytery, Gilbert Tennent and 
■is elder, Samuel Hazard; Lamb; Treat; William Ten- 
MM and his elder, Robert Gumming'; MrCrea and his 
elder, John Craig; Robinson; Youngs; Beatty and his 
elder, Richard Walker; MeKnight and his elder, Peter 
Peryen. 

Of Newcastle Presbytery, Samuel Blair and his elder, John 
: 8. l-'inl'-v; C. Tennent; John Blair and his elder, 

Alexander Moody. 

They considered and adopted the following plan and foun- 
dation of their synodieaJ anion: — 

-• 1. They agree thai the Westminster Confession of Faith, 
with the Larger and Shorter Oaieehisms, he the public con- 
fession of their faith in each manner as pas agreed unto 
hv the Synod of Philadelphia* in the year 17^'.», and bo 
be inserted in the latter end of this book. And they declare 
their approbation of the Directory of the Assembly of 
Divines al Westminster, as the general plan of worship 
and discipline* 

* I..; of t li «• Count.--- of Bunttagdon. 



216 Webster's history of the 

"2. They agree that, in matters of discipline, and those 
things that relate to the peace and good order of onr churches, 
the}- shall be determined according to the major vote of minis- 
ters and elders, with which vote every member shall actively 
concur or pacifically acquiesce ; but if any member cannot in 
conscience agree to the determination of the majority, but 
supposes himself obliged to act contrary thereunto, and the 
synod think themselves obliged to insist upon it as essen- 
tially necessary to the well-being of our churches, in that 
case such dissenting member promises peaceably to with- 
draw from the body, without endeavouring to raise any dis- 
pute or contention upon the debated point, or any unjust 
alienation of affection from them. 

" 3. If any member of their body supposes that he hath 
any thing to object against any of his brethren with respect 
to error in doctrine, immorality in life, or negligence in his 
ministry, he shall not on any account propagate the scandal 
until the person objected against is dealt with according to 
the rules of the gospel and the known methods of their 
discipline. 

" 4. They agree that all who have a competent degree of 
ministerial knowledge, are orthodox in their doctrine, regular 
in their lives, and diligent in their endeavours to promote 
the important designs of vital godliness, and that will submit 
to their discipline, shall be cheerfully admitted into their com- 
munion. 

"And they do also agree that, in order to avoid all divisive 
methods among their ministers and congregations, and to 
strengthen the discipline of Christ in the churches in these 
parts, they will maintain a correspondence with the Synod 
of Philadelphia in this their first meeting, by appointing two 
of their members to meet with the said Synod of Philadelphia 
at their next convention, and to concert with them such mea- 
sures as may best promote the precious interests of Christ's 
kingdom in these parts. 

" And that they may in no respect encourage any factious 
separating practices or principles, they agree that they will 
not intermeddle with judicially hearing the complaints, or 
with supplying with ministers and candidates such parties 
of men, as shall separate from any Presbyterian or Cougrega- 



PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH IX AMERICA. 217 

tional churches that are not within their bounds, unless the 
matters of controversy be submitted to their jurisdiction or 
advice by both parties." 

Compared with the proposals offered by the Protesters, 
these articles look almost as if drawn by the latter. The 
fourth article is so contrary to all that had been taught about 
graceless and unconverted preachers, that it might have been 
brought in by Thomson and Robert Cross and accepted by 
any one of the Old Side. 



218 Webster's history of the 



CHAPTER VHI. 

Acting by themselves, and engaged in constituting a synod 
for themselves, the New Side yielded much to the New York 
brethren, without imagining they were yielding any thing.* 
Demanded as articles of submission by Philadelphia Synod, 
most of the terms of the Plan would have been rejected super- 
ciliously. 

Dickinson was chosen moderator, and Pemberton clerk, 
and they two were appointed a committee to meet with the 
Philadelphia Synod and propose terms of agreement and cor- 
respondence. An interloquitur was held, probably to agree 
on the terms to be offered by them; and a commission was 
appointed, embracing four members of the New York Presby- 
tery, and two from each of the other presbyteries. 

Philadelphia Synod met May 29, 1746, with twelve minis- 
ters and eleven elders. No new members had been added, 
and Bertram and Scougal had died. The smallpox being in 
Philadelphia, the committee of New York Synod did not at- 
tend ; but Dickinson wrote, desiring correspondence, each body 
to send yearly to the other two of their members, and pro- 
posing a triennial meeting, by delegates,' in some convenient 
place, " to order public affairs for the glory of God, and the 
good of the church." They replied: — 



* Samuel Finley to Bellamy, Elizabethtown, September 20, 1745. "I can truly 
sympathize with you in your grievances as to the declension of religion and to 
those horrendous principles you mention; they are antinomian and enthusiastic. 
.... We have some that treat us in the same way as your Eastern Exhorters, and 
equally pervert the Scriptures, ignorantly taking some scriptural expressions in 
their full extent, and will not observe the limitations made by other Scriptures. 
But I'm so hurried I cannot write the fourth part of what I would. We are joined 
in a synod with New York Presbytery. Religion is not lively with us ; yet some- 
times a sinner is brought home and saints refreshed." 



presbyterian church is america. 219 

"Reverend and Dear Brother: — 

" We had yours laid before us by Mr. Andrews, and trust we 
can heartily join in all proper methods to promote the glory 
of God, the interest of Christ's kingdom, and welfare of the 
churches in these parts; and shall readily join with you in 
remembering each other at the throne of grace, and praying 
I*-!- each other's gospel endeavours to advance religion. We 
are also pleased, that attempts are making by you, to prevent 
divisive methods, We would desire, you might communicate to 
us the plan on which you have erected yourselves, what general 
ments you have brought the members under on their ad- 
mi— ion, and who are members with you. When we are better 
acquainted with these things, we can the more readily judge 
how we shall be able to answer your desires. We can assure 
you of our regard and friendship, and of our prayers for the 
divine blessing on your person and ministerial labours." 

in their letter to the Rector and tin- Trustees of Yale, they 

The New York Synod's proposals seem fair; but, till the 

dividers of our churches (and they chiefly make up that body) 

declare againsl the late divisive, uncharitable practices, and show 

us in what way fchej intend to have their youth educated for 
tin- ministry, we shall be shy to comply with their proposals." 

The omission of Bending the plan and the list of members 
of the Dew synod was a fatal one. Had Dickinson met with 
them, it Wpould bare been supplied, and the way prepared for a 
reconciliation and for friendly intercourse as two contiguous 
and distend judicatories. 

nexl meeting of New York Synod was in the spring, 
and was very small. The members were prevented from at- 
tending by the apprehension of smallpox and other difficulties. 
Dickinson preached from Psalm aoriv.4; and Pemberton was 

chosen moderator. The reply Of the Synod of Philadelphia 

was read; but no notice appears to have been taken of it at 
this time, or at the meeting in May. 17 IT, or in 17 \*. During 
this time, Robinson, Dickinson, Brainerd, and Tinker died; 
and there were ordained Roan, Beckett, Bostwiok, Grants 
Snnter, Dean, Green, Lawrence, 1 levies, Arthur, Sterling, Bay, 
and Prudden. Davenport, Symmes, and Lewis had been re- 
ceived from Long bland Or New England. 



220 Webster's history of the 

Nothing was done on the subject of union or correspond- 
ence with the New York Synod by the Old Synod in 1747 or 
1748. The meeting in 1747 was small, — twelve ministers and 
twelve elders.* Andrews had been removed by death, and 
four ministers had been ordained: — Thorn, Dick, Hamilton, and 
Hector Alison. In 1748, there were fourteen ministers pre- 
sent, and twelve elders; Dick had died, and Brown had been 
received from Scotland. 

During this lull in the storm, which so completely becalmed 
the two ships of Zion that they attempted no intercourse, the 
spirit of Gilbert Tennent stirred within him, and he preached, 
June 20, 1749, the "Irenicuni; or, a Plea for the Peace of 
Jerusalem." 

In May, 1749, the New York Synod met, with twenty-two 
ministers and six elders. Twenty-one ministers were absent. 
Dean had died and Allen had been received, and Rodgers, 
Smith, John Brainerd, and Richards had been ordained. The 
Presbytery of Suffolk was admitted into the synod, and Mr. 
Prime and Mr. Brown took their seats. 

A motion was made for making proposals to the Philadelphia 
Synod for a union : it was considered the next day, and, after 
much reasoning, was carried by a great majority. Among 
the absentees were Samuel and John Blair, William and 
Charles Tennent, Wales, and Sterling. 

The paper was as follows : — 

" The Synod of New York are deeply sensible of the many 
unhappy consequences that flow from our present divided 
state, and have with pleasure observed a spirit of moderation 
increasing between many of the members of both synods. 
This opens a door of hope, that, if we were united in one body, 
we might be able to carry on the designs of religion in future 
peace and agreement to our mutual satisfaction; and, though 
we retain the same sentiments of the work of God which we 
formerly did, yet we esteem mutual forbearance our duty, 
since we all profess the same Confession of Faith and Direc- 
tory of Worship. We would, therefore, humbly propose to 
our brethren of the Synod of Philadelphia, that all our former 

* Gillespie, though recorded as absent, was present on the second day of the 
meeting. 



PRESBYTERIAN CHURCn IB AMERICA. 221 

differences be boned in perpetual oblivion, and that for the 
time to come, both synods be united into one, and that hence- 
forth there be no contentions among us; but to cany towards 
Mefa other in the most peaceable and brotherly manner, which 
we are persuaded will be for the honour of our Master, the 
credit of our profession, and the edification of the churches 
committed to our care. Accordingly, we appoint the Rev» 
Messrs. John IMerson, Gilbert Tennent, Ebenezer Pemberton, 
and Aaron Burr, to be our delegates to wait upon the Synod 
of Philadelphia with these proposals. And if the Synod of 
Philadelphia see meet to join with us in this design, and will 
please to appoint a commission to meet for that purpose, we 
appoint the Rev. Messrs. John Pierson, Ebenezer Pemberton, 
Aaron Burr, Gilbert and William Tennent, Richard Treat, 
Samuel or John Blair, John Roan, Samuel Finley, Ebenezer 
Prime, David Bostwick, and James Brown, (whom we appoint 

a Commission Of the synod i'or the ensuing year,) to meet with 

tin' commission of the Synod of Philadelphia, at Booh time 
and place a- they shall choose, to determine the affair of the 
union, agreeable to the preliminary articles concluded upon 

by this synod ; and it IS agreed that any other of ourim-mlnTs 
who shall please to meet with the commission shall have 
liberty of voting and acting in snid affair equally with the 
members of said commission. Which articles proposed as a 

.1 plan of union are as follows, viz.: — 

•• l. To preserve the common peace, we would propose that 
all dames of distinction which have been made use of in the 
late tames be brevet abolished. 

u 2t Thai every member assent unto and adopt the Confes- 
sion of Kaith and Directory, according to the plan formerly 

agreed to by tin- Synod of Philadelphia in the years . 

That every member promise, that after any question has 
determined by the major vote, he will actively concur or 
; l • 1 1 1 i t to the judgment of the body; bu1 if hi- con- 
science permil him to do neither of these, thai then he shall 
iliged peaceably to withdraw from our synOdical com- 
munion, without any attempt to make a Bchism or division 
among as. Yel this is ool intended to extend to anj 
hut those which the synod judges essentia] in matters of doe- 
trine or discipline. 



222 Webster's history of the 

"4. That all our respective congregations and vacancies be 
acknowledged as congregations belonging to the synod, but 
continue under the care of the same presbytery as now they 
are, until a favourable opportunity presents for an advan- 
tageous alteration. 

" 5. That we all agree to esteem and treat it as a censurable 
evil, to accuse any of' our members of error in doctrine or 
immorality in conversation, any otherwise than by private 
reproof, till the accusation has been brought before a regular 
judicature and issued according to the known rules of our 
discipline." 

The Synod of Philadelphia met the week following: four 
ministers present from each presbytery, and ten elders. One 
minister had been ordained. Joseph Tate and Brown had 
returned to Scotland. At the first sederunt, the proposals for 
peace and union were brought in by the four delegates of New 
York Synod, and the synod resolved itself into a committee 
and spent the next morning in considering them. 

The delegates agreed to the following concessions and 
amendments in the proposals. 

1. "We retain the same sentiments of the work of God which 
we formerly did, [though great and good men have been of 
different opinions.] 

In the third article to strike out "yet this is not intended," 
&c, and to substitute "always reserving a liberty for such 
dissenting members to lay their grievances before the synod 
in a peaceable manner." To add two articles: — "6. That 
there be no intrusion into the bounds of presbyteries or pas- 
toral charges against the inclination of presbyteries or pastors. 

"7. That all candidates for the work of the ministry 
either be examined by the synod or its commission previous 
to their admission on trials by any of our presbyteries, or else 
be obliged to obtain a college-diploma, or a certificate, from the 
president and trustees of the college, of their having been 
examined and found qualified." 

Gilbert Tennent only objected to the synodical examination 
of candidates. 

It was also agreed that the two commissions should ripen 
things for the next synodical meetings, but not finally deter- 
mine any thing. 



PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH IN AMERICA. 223 

The synod, at the close of this conference, resolved, as the 
delegates have given lis some hope of our great ground of 
complaint being removed, to leave the matter to a commis- 
sion ; and to lay a copy of the Hew York Synod's plan and 
confession before every presbytery; and that, if possible, every 
member be consulted; and that the presbyteries offer what 
else they think necessary for this valuable end, and give it in 
charge to those of their members who are of the commission, 
to treat with the gentlemen of the New York Synod at Tren- 
ton, in October. 

John Thomson was then labouring in the Valley of Virginia; 
and the moderator, Timothy Griffith, was ordered to write to 
him on this head. 

By a remarkable coincidence, the records of each of the 
three presbyteries for that year are lost. 

On the 4th of October, the two commissions met to treat 
upon the overture of union. From the Philadelphia Synod, 
there were four Protesters, — Cross, Boyd, C'atheart, and Alison; 
two who had adhered to them at the rupture, — Cowell and 
MoHenry; and two members ordained since, — Griffith and 
Thorn. From the New York Synod there were present, of 
those who urn- excluded by the protest, Gilbert and William 
Tennent, Treat, and Samuel Blair; three of those who, in 
those trying times, had as probationers and candidates been 
strongly Identified with them, — Samuel Kinky, .lames Blair, 

and Eto&n; two who had signed the New York 1 'n-sl -\ ten's 

prbtesl against the exclusions — Pierson andPembertOn; and 
two im-'.v mesnbers, — Lewis and Arthur. 

<>i" the New York commission, then- ware absent) Bum, 
Prime, Bostwick, and Brown. Cowell was oho8en moderator, 
and Arthur clerk. Leave had been granted by the New Fork 
Synod to their members not In commission to attend and have 
equal liberty of voting with those in commission. A Dumber 
availed themselves of this privilege: their name- are dqI 
given. Several who had not been present in forming the 
general plan of union desired s private conference with their 
brethren, that thoymighl be fully acquainted with eachotherVa 

sentiment-, and with the general COncessiODJ or preliminary 

articles mad.- by their committee. The eommiBsionem ad- 
journed till the next day. when the New York brethren, waiv- 



224 Webster's history or the 

ing all other matters, immediately insisted that the protest 
should, by some authentic and formal act of the Philadelphia 
Synod, be declared null and void. It is said to have been 
reported by some of the Old Side that the protest was to be 
confirmed, and the New York Synod to be received on that 
footing; and that this was the reason of their mentioning the 
protest in particular. The debates on this head rose very 
high; and, no prospect appearing of coming to any conclusion, 
by reason of some of the New York brethren being unable to 
agree on the explication of their own plan, they unanimously 
agreed that each synod, at its next session, more fully prepare 
proposals for accommodation, and interchange them ; and that 
in the mean time there be a mutual endeavour to cultivate a 
spirit of candour and friendship. 

The principal things to be considered by the synods were, — 
1. The protest; 2. The paragraph about essentials; 3. Of 
presbyteries. 

The Synod of New York met May 16, 1750. There was a 
large attendance. They had lost Lamb by death, had received 
Spencer, and ordained Ayres and Reid. Gilbert and Charles 
Tennent were absent, with Samuel Finley and all of the Suf- 
folk Presbytery. They were not able to proceed to make fur- 
ther proposals for union, the minutes of their last meeting and 
the plan not being in the house. They expressed to the Phila- 
delphia Synod their regret, and professed their design to enter 
upon that affair the next year. 

The Philadelphia Synod met on the 23d of May, 1750. The 
venerable John Thomson had come from Virginia to be pre- 
sent at this interesting period. Craig was also there. There 
were besides, from Donegal Presbytery, Boyd, Elder, Zanchy, 
Caven, and Tate. From Philadelphia Presbytery, there were 
Cross, Elmer, Cowell, Guild, and McIIenry. From Newcastle, 
Cathcart, Alison, McDowell, Griffith, Steel, Hamilton, and 
Hector Alison. There were fourteen elders. Thorn had de- 
ceased, and no new member had been added. 

On receiving the minute of the New York Synod in relation 
to the union, they joined them in regretting that a thing so 
much desired by them cannotbe prosecuted ; and, hoping to have 
their expectations answered by such proposals next year as shall 
effectually promote union, they would heartily join with them in 



PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH IX AMERICA. 22o 

the mean time in such measures as shall promote candour and 
friendship. 

The Synod of New York met at Newark in the following 
September, 1750. A large attendance of ministers, but only 
three elders. Among the absentees were Gilbert and Charles 
Tennent, Samuel ajid John Blair, Roan, Eodgers, and Davies. 
Treat, William Tennent, Finley, Green, and Spencer were ap- 
pointed to draw up proposals for union, and the synod approved 
their draught of a plan. They ordered the clerk to place a 
copy in the hands of Samuel Hazard,* of Philadelphia, to be 
by him delivered to the Synod of Philadelphia when he shall 
have received their proposals. 

The Philadelphia Synod met in May, 1751, having lost 
David Evans and Samuel Caven by death. The attendance 
mall, — eleven ministers and ten elders. Being unpre- 
pared to send proposals, not having their previous minutes at 
hand, they resolved to meet in the fall, that the Synod of New 
Y"ik '• may consider our overtures and take proper measures 
for concluding B union. We recommend it to them to use all 
endeavours to promote a healing spirit ; and we shall, through 
divine assistance, endeavour to do the same, that our designs 
may be brought to a comfortable issue." 

Ten ministers and four elders assembled in September, 
1761, and. having seriously and maturely considered the aflair 
Of union, agreed to comply with the proposals laid down by 
the Synod of New York in 1749 " aa closely and as far as we 
ean exped to preserve our future peace and union." The dif- 
ference '"turcii the two plans will be seen by exhibiting them 
by Bide. 

TiiK plai ot Tin: mrov ornw Tout, m rea> oi m mran si mbla« 

0BRO D 1760, mit HUM Tin: i>u.riii\, FBOFOmD in 1761. 

PBOrOfAI in 171'.'. 

l. That all names of diattootkmi 

DM of in luti- times be loivu-r 

ahnlisne.l. 

1 That every meinl.er UNO) unto 2. Tli.it every memler gta !ii-: assent 

0t Nathaniel Basard, an elder in New V„rk tr..m 1728 to 1746. 

in Philadelphia, mi elder In the Beoond Ohnreh, nad an 

original an<l a.-tive tru-tce of the College of V « JenOJ. 

Be irai the father "f Bheneter n a ad, to irhom ire are m largely Indented (bx 

the preservation of the materials ..f ..ur ohQTOfi 1 

Lfl 



226 



WEBSTER S HISTORY OF THE 



and receive the Westminster Confession 
and Catechisms as the confession of his 
faith, according to the plan agreed to 
by the Synod of Philadelphia in 1729, 
and agree to the Directory as the gene- 
ral plan of worship and discipline. 



2. That all matters shall be deter- 
mined by a majority of votes, to which 
determination all shall submit; but if 
any cannot in conscience submit to a 
particular act or determination of the 
body, he shall, after sufficient liberty of 
reasoning and modest remonstration, be 
obliged to withdraw from our synodical 
communion : provided always that this 
last article shall not extend to any cases 
but such as the synod judges essential 
in doctrine, worship, or discipline. 

3. That it shall be treated as a cen- 
surable misconduct for any member to 
charge any of his brethren with errors 
in doctrine, or immorality, except in a 
way of private reproof or judicial pro- 
cess ; and that none shall be judicially 
condemned or censured without a fair 
trial and process, according to the known 
rules of our discipline. 



4. That no candidate shall be taken 
on trials by any presbytery without a 
degree or certificate from the president 
and a sufficient number of tutors and 
trustees of some college, testifying to 
the sufficiency of his learning, except in 
extraordinary cases, in which the pres- 
byteries shall be accountable to the 
synod. 



5. That it shall be treated as irre- 
gular for any mini ster or candidate to 



to the Westminster Confession and Di- 
rectory, according to the plan agreed 
on in our synod. 

And that no acts be made, but con- 
cerning what appears to the body plain 
duty, or concerning opinions that we 
believe relate to the great truths of 
religion. 

And that all public and fundamental 
agreements of this synod stand safe. 

3. That every member engage that, after 
any question has been determined by a 
major vote, he will actively concur or 
passively submit to the judgment of the 
body; or, if his conscience will not per- 
mit him to comply with either, then he 
shall be obliged peaceably to withdraw, 
always reserving him a liberty to sue • 
for a review, or to lay his grievances 
before the body in a Christian manner. 



4. That it be esteemed a culpable 
evil, and treated as such, to accuse any 
of our brethren of error in doctrine or 
immorality in practice, otherwise than 
by private admonition, or to spread evil 
surmises that he is graceless or uncon- 
verted, till the accusation has been 
brought before a regular judicature and 
issued according to the rules of well- 
known church discipline. 

And that no person be excluded from 
any of our judicatures without regular 
proceedings, according to our known 
rules of discipline. 

5. That all candidates for the ministry 
be examined either by the synod or its 
commission, and be approved by them 
in the languages and philosophy, or be 
obliged to bring a college-certificate or 
diploma that they are suitably qualified 
according to the rules of that college, 
before they be admitted to trials in any 
of our presbyteries; and we promise 
that we will encourage them to fall in 
with this last, as the most honourable 
and customary. 

That there be no intrusion into the 
bounds of any of our presbyteries or 



PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH IN AMERICA. 



227 



preach or perform other ministerial of- 
fices in the congregations of other mi- 
nisters belonging to our body, contrary 
to their minds. 

On the other hand, it shall be deemed 
onbrotherry for any minister to refuse 
his consent, without weighty reasons, 
when amicably desired. 

C. That all the several presbyteries 
belonging to both synods respectively 
shall continue distinct presbyteries as 
now they are, and 



Tint the several congregations and 
one under the same 
- ;it j. re sent. 



7. That the DTOle g tatlon made in the 
: of Philadelphia in 17 11 be de» 

elared beneefortfc void end of none ■#> 
feet, mid that the proposed anion anal] 

n"t be n 1 1 • 1 • ■ j- - r i to Imply an 

r cn-crit to the protest on our 

part. 

8. A* this ijnod doth beUere thai a 
glorious W"rk of God'i Spirit « 

rii-i mi in the int<- religious appear* 
1 1 >i « .11 (^ ri we doubt not tin •!■• 

[ peo- 
ple nnd an ; : a Intermixed 
with it,) it would be pleasing and de- 
sirable to u«, and what we b"i"j fur. tint 



pastoral charges without the consent 
of the presbytery or minister first ob- 
tained, explicitly or implicitly. 



6. That our presbyteries shall be 
made up everywhere of the ministers 
that live contiguous, so that there shall 
be no old and new presbyteries for old 
and new congregations to repair to and 
obtain ministers bearing party names ; 
and that any minister may, on applica- 
tion to the synod, have liberty to join 
with any neighbouring presbytery he 
shall choose, if they think it for edifica- 
tion to allow him. 

That such congregations where there 
are new erections, and each is able to 
support a minister, shall be continued ; 
that where there aro two parties, and 
both vacant, and neither is able to sup- 
port a minister, all care be taken to 
unite them; and that where erections 
have been made by these divisive prac- 
tices to the disadvantage of former 
standing congregations, the ministers 
supplying them shall be removed, and 
all proper methods taken to heal the 
breaoh. Wo hope few will be affected 
hardly by this, for they may find more 
oomfortable settlements iu our nume- 
roni vacancies. 



228 Webster's history of the 

both synods may come so far to agree 
in their sentiments about it, as to give 
their joint testimony thereto. 

The Synod of New York received these proposals in the 
course of a few weeks, having met on September 26 of the 
same year, (1751.) Samuel Blair, " the greatest light in these 
parts," had taken wing and flown to his heavenly home. 
Thomas Arthur was also dead. There had been ordained, 
Thane, Moft'ett, Graham, Kennedy, Chesnutt, Cumming, Jona- 
than Elmer, Todd, and Hugh Henry. Gilbert Tennent and 
Charles were again absent. The attendance of ministers was 
large. There were only eleven elders. 

The Philadelphia plan was considered, and Pierson, Finley, 
Smith, Beatty, and the moderator, John Blair, were appointed 
to draw up an answer, which was approved by the synod, and 
is as follows :* — 

" The proposals of the Synod of Philadelphia for union with 
this synod were opened and read. The synod, after deliberate 
perusal of them, are pleased in observing any steps taken 
towards the uniting the two synods, and that our brethren 
of the Philadelphia Synod profess a peaceable disposition, 
and determine to concur with our proposals as closely and 
as far as they can, in their present view of things. But, as 
they have not seen fit to comply with some of the particu- 
lars proposed by us so closely as we could have wished, we 
judge it becomes our professions, and our endeavours for peace, 
to be candidly open and free in pointing out those things from 
which we disagree in their present plan of accommodation. 

" 1. Though the synod should make no acts but concern- 
ing matters of plain duty, or opinions relating to the great 
truths of religion, yet, as every thing that appears plain duty 
and truth unto the body may appear at the same time not 
to be essential, so we judge that no member or members 
should be obliged to withdraw from our communion upon his 
or their not being able actively to concur or passively submit, 
unless the matter be judged essential in doctrine or discipline. 

" 2. We cannot agree that all the public and fundamental 
agreements of the Synod of Philadelphia should stand safe, if 

* Records, pp. 245, 246. 



PRESBYTERIAN CIIURCII IX AMERICA. 229 

tlii- is understood to extend to agreements made by said 
synod since the rupture happened. 

" 3. AVe cannot see that it will consist with the peace and 
edification of the church to use any coercive measures to 
oblige people to be under the ministry of those whom they do 
not choose, or to dissolve and new-model presbyteries. 

•• 4. Seeing by the goodness of Divine Providence we have 
• •rected, we see no necessity for the alternative 
of the synod or their commission examining candidates before 
they be admitted to presbyterial trials. 

u As the Synod of Philadelphia had not our last proposals 
before them when they drew up the present plan of accom- 
modation, we refer them to said proposals, as to what we 
farther desire in order to our union with them." 

The Philadelphia Synod met in May, 1752. Sampson 
Smith had been ordained. There were present fourteen mi- 
nisters and twelve elders. They considered the New York 
proposals, and their reply was as follows:* — 

"Upon perusal of yours, our pleasing views of a comfort- 
able anion, from repeated intimations of your readiness to 
comply with what appeared reasonable, are considerably 
abated; especially as we apprehend yon receding further from a 
union, and from your own former proposals in order thereunto, 
which we shall fully point out, being persuaded it is our duty, 
_ willing for and desirous of a reasonable accommodation. 

••l-t. Ymi have repeatedly proposed that all former differ- 
- be buried in perpetual oblivion, which you apprehend 
for the honour of our blaster, the credit of our profession, and 
the edification of the church. Eow, consistently therewith, 
do you in.-i-t that the protestation of the synod, in the yeaT 
1741, be declared void and of none effect? and thai this 
declaration shall be a term of union, since the synod have 
assured yon, and are willing to declare that, upon the union, 
they shall ad and carry it towards you as it' this protestation 
had never been made, looking upon the design of the protes- 
tation answered by reasonable terms of union; and, if 
thing further be intended by your insisting that said protesta- 
tion be declared void and of no effect, we assure you i 

207. 



230 Webster's history of the 

well satisfied that said protestation was made on sufficient and 
justifiable grounds, and we are not in the least convinced that 
the synod acted wrong in said step. 

" 2d)y. You insist that presbyteries shall continue as they 
are, and declare you see no reason to dissolve the new- 
modelled presbyteries. How is this consistent with your pro- 
posals, that all differences be perpetually buried, and that all 
names and distinctions be forever abolished ? nay, how can 
you reconcile it in your own minds w T ith the peace of this 
church, the valuable end to be aimed at by the union? 
Besides, we acquainted you that a uniting of presbyteries 
appeared to us so requisite to the peace of our church, that un- 
less your delegates had given us, by their concessions, ground 
to believe your synod would have consented to this, we should 
have looked upon any attempt for union as vain and useless. 

" And your own former proposals on this head — viz. : that 
congregations, as they are at present, should belong to the 
same presbytery they now do, till a favourable opportunity 
of an advantageous alteration — gave us ground to apprehend 
that you would consent, from the apparent necessity of the 
thing, to this advantageous alteration. 

" 3dly. You have formerly declared, that though your sen- 
timents, of what you esteemed a work of God, continued the 
same, yet you judged mutual forbearance your duty, since we 
all profess the same Confession of Faith and Directory for 
worship. But now you seem to insist on a joint testimony 
for such a glorious work of God, in the late religious appear- 
ances, as a term of union, by making it one of your proposals 
for peace and union, that you hope both synods will go into 
such a testimony. How is this consistent w r ith your former 
professed sentiments of duty of forbearance in said case, and 
with your declared sentiments, that no difference in judgment 
in cases of plain sin and duty, and opinions relating to the 
great truths of religion, is a sufficient reason why the differing 
member should be obliged to withdraw, unless the said plain 
duty or truth be judged by the body essential, in doctrine or 
discipline ? And we think it strange you would insist on 
this, or even mention it, as a proposal for union, seeing your 
delegates before us conceded that both great and good men had 
differed from them on that head, besides your own declaration 



PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH IX AMERICA. 231 

on that affair — viz. : that you douht riot but that there were 
several follies and extravagancies of the people and artifices 
of Satan intermixed with what you call a glorious work of 

- Spirit, plainly evince the difficulty of such a testimony, 
especially to such who cannot easily be persuaded to declare 
that these religious appearances were a saving work of God's 
Spirit 

" Besides, in order to such a testimony, in an affair confes- 
sedly difficult, that it be consistent with reason and a good 
Slice, we apprehend that it is your business and duty 
who hope for and insist on such testimony, that you point 
out what you believe to be a glorious work of God's Spirit in 
the late religious appearances, and what to be the follies and 
extravagancies of the people, and the artifices of Satan, that 
bo a distinct testimony be given for the encouragement of the 
and for preventing the other, and undeceiving many 
among the simple and ignorant who ma}* have mistaken the 
one for the other, and yet continue in the mistake. 

"4thly. We have condescended, for the sake of peace, that 
all the ministers belonging to your synod, and all their con>- 
i _ itions, should belong to this body; but when intrusions 

have been made by disorderly ministers into our congrega- 
tions, so as to render them incapable to perform their solemn 
Elements to their pastors, we think these things that are 
so unjust ought to be rectified; ye1 inconsistent with the 

- of gospel ministers) you can find a salve lor this diffi- 
culty, we will gladly approve of it. 

" .".tlily. A- for our sentiments in other affairs, relating to the 
proposed union, we refer yon to our late proposals; which we 
apprehend just and reasonable, and as yei see do jusl reasons 
ede from, or make any material abatements of them; 
and particularly in regard to proposals for deciding affiura by 
majority of rote, we apprehend it strictly Presbyterian and 
reasonable, and are nol convinced thai the alteration in that 
article proposed by you, aboul what is essential and what not, 
ry; cay, we apprehend thai Buch an alteration as 

: by yon has a had aepeetj and opens a d • for an 

unjustifiable latitude both in principles and practice. 
u 6thly. We are much satisfied to hem- you propose thai 
_ men should bring colli 



232 Webster's history of the 

have now, by the goodness of Divine Providence, a college 
erected. We are and ever were as much for this, and more, 
than some of those brethren who once belonged to this synod; 
and we would put you in mind that there were colleges 
erected in reach of your youth before you had one in New 
Jersey. But no regard was to be paid to our repeated desires 
and public votes that our young men should have education, 
and certificates from them, when it was proposed by our 
synod ; and we think that our synod may find, among their 
number, men as well qualified to examine and judge of men's 
abilities as either the tutors, trustees, or rectors of your col- 
lege; so that we think the approbation of our synod, or 
committee, a good alternative, and yet will give it up if you 
oblige all your candidates to bring college certificates, unless 
in extraordinary cases, and these shall be settled to prevent 
such disorders as we have seen and felt in time past. 

"At present, we are well pleased with any degree of a dis- 
position towards peace and union professed by you, and are 
resolved to cultivate and improve, in ourselves and others in 
any measure under our influence, the same peaceable disposi- 
tion, and to concur heartily with you in any plan of accom- 
modation reasonable and consistent with our profession as 
Presbyterians, and for the good of the church and honour of 
our Lord and Master." 

The Philadelphia Synod's remarks were not considered by 
the New York Synod in September, 1752. There had been 
ordained, Worts, John Campbell, James Finley, and Robert 
Smith. Youngs had died. Jonathan Edwards preached the 
opening sermon : — "True Grace distinguished from the Expe- 
rience of Devils." Gilbert and Charles Tennent were again 
absent. In October, 1753, they were present at the meeting 
held in Philadelphia ; at which there were thirty-two minis- 
ters and fifteen elders. Alexander Creaghead had returned 
to the synod ; Evander Morrison, John Smith, and Joseph 
Park had been received, and Maltby, Harker, Wright, and 
Robert Henry had been ordained 

The New York Synod answered the letter from the Phila- 
delphia Synod on the plan of union, insisting that the protes- 
tation of 1741 should be declared of no effect, and that the 
presbyteries and congregations should continue as they now 



PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH IN AMERICA. 233 

are. An agreement in a joint testimony in regard to "the 
late glorious work of God" was also considered highly desir- 
able aud important The general tone of the synodieal reply 
was firm, bat conciliatory. 

The Philadelphia Synod, in 1753, did nothing towards the 
union : they hud lost their two oldest members, John Thom- 
son and llugh Conn, and had gained none. In 1754, they 
hail lost, by death, Catheart and Griffith, and ordained 
McMordie and Kinkead. The oldest minister sent his coun- 
sel.* The letter from the Synod of New York was read, 



* To the Reverend Moderator and worthy members of the Presbyter ial Synod of Phila- 
d'./j'hia, there met some few days after the date hereof. 

Reveeend and Woutiiy Bhetiiukn: — 

I would gladly have ben present with you, but my weakness of body hath 

i B6 anil la ri Is such b journey. I hope you will accept of this, my 

tag Bheonoe; yet I desire bo be present with yon, by write (by 

letter?) iu some tilings. 

I think 1 may asy, that there li one thing whieh layeth much upon my heart, — these 
woeful divisions which are among ministers and people. It Is my earnest desire 
that the Lord easy toneb your hearts boh when met, that bo yon may fall on some 
■ methods to have that breach made up which is betwixt us and those other 
Ministers whieh were once members of our church judicatories. A division in a 
chup-h hath many evils in it. Pint. It bringeth ministers of both Bides into con- 
tempt. Serondly. It makes some people of the one side hear the ministers of the 
other sidi- with prejudice. Thirdly, it hinders the success of the gospel preached, 

ami the BoMeatJOB and good Of BOnlS. fourthly. It makes Satan rejoice, wicked 

and profane persona Boaff at religion, fifthly. It teadetb ont some persons to 
i in one another's calumiiies and to hold evil wishes to one another. We 

ind Epiphanins: thongh both godly," Chrysostom wished that 
Bpiphanins might die and never see Oypmi when sailing onto it. his oharge being 
there; and Bpiphanins wished that Chrysostom might not die Bishop of Constan- 
tinople. The Lord t es ti fied bis displeasare at both their sinful Irishes, for beta 

-■) the followers <<f both were silenced in their sinful joy. Sixthly. 

It pallets, down the government and rtiaajpflae In Christn house, which are walk 
and f eaeai whieh Qod hath appointed to preserre tho flowers of his precious 

truths in the garden of his church from being trumpled under foot ; and they pal 

u stop to demsioni and errors. ] want words to o i pr es j the honid evil of the 

pulling down the government and dJSdpUaoof Christ*! house; it is lv ^ r< . ;i ( mother* 

evil. By this, those that ahonld be mtUd will he nil mkn and dtsfatert to their 

and v "i ii qbs side, when otbn led in the leiist, will n ,n to tl ther 

ahareh eenanrei •tbnsa east both themaetveB and their 

fuinilies from under the .-are of nny mini-ter. It l.adeth out to ru-li Judging and 

dting andeni amber, of either side, think thai the ool presa- 

r an union will be the way BO get „ii union with the ..ther side, then, I 
think, such a tneniher reasons MVOJ the greater distance 



234 Webster's history of the 

and, at first, it was resolved to send proposals to them ; but 
afterwards it was judged a better expedient to desire a con- 



from the other, this will tend to make the breach the wider. It is observable, that 
those who have pressed much after peace and union in a church, and have been 
most condescending in their terms in the time of divisions in a church, have been 
most commended, and afterwards most loved, by the godly of both sides; all 
which appeareth from ecclesiastical history. 

Beloved brethren, I was informed (but whether the information be truth or not 
I can't tell) of two conditions of peace and unity which the other side requireth 
of our synod. First. That the presbyteries of both sides should be continued as 
they now are, and meet all together in one Synod of Philadelphia. In my judg- 
ment, I can't agree to this first condition ; but judge it most reasonable that pres- 
byteries consist of ministers and elders of both sides ; as the congregations lie con- 
tiguous and near to one another, this will make for the conveniency and tend to the 
good order and create brotherly love. But if presbyteries should be as they are 
now, and only meet in the synod, this will give Satan a great handle to hinder 
brotherly love and peace, and create and carry on a division in our synod again. 

The second condition is, they require that it be acknowledged that there was a 
great and glorious work of God and reformation, or great and glorious times and 
days, in our land and church a few years past. My thoughts are, that the days or 
times of late past in our Presbyterian church or land are not to be called properly 
glorious days or times, but properly the days or times of the Lord's pleading a 
controversy with our Presbyterial churches in this land for our sins ; yet I think 
that God, in the midst of his anger, hath remembered mercy, and hath converted 
some souls. 

It is evident to me that the days and times of the Reformation from Popery 
were glorious days and times, though then many delusions and errors sprang up ; 
but observe and notice, the great instruments of the Reformation from Popery, or 
the Reformers, were men coming from darkness to light more and more, — men 
coming from errors to Christ's truths ; but they were not men falling from truths 
into delusions and errors, as these ministers and members, the great instruments 
and ringleaders of that work of late called a glorious reformation, were. Surely 
those are not glorious days and times, and a reformation of a church, when these 
ministers and people, who are the chief instruments, are falling into delusions or 
errors, pulling down the walls of church government and discipline, falling into a 
spirit of rash judging and false zeal. My thoughts are that the days of late 
were days and times of the Lord's pleading a controversy with our church for 
our sins. 

I earnestly desire that both sides would bury in oblivion all the faults which 
each chargeth upon the other, and that no mention be made of any of these ; and 
to unite together again in the doctrine, discipline, and government of Christ's 
house, to carry on the interest of Christ and the good of souls. 

Reverend brethren, our Lord and Master, Christ Jesus, the Prince of peace, 
sayeth, in Matthew v. 9, " Blessed are the peace-makers, for they shall be called 
the children of God." Let us follow after peace as much as is possible. If peace 
with truth be obtained, and church union, then this will crush Satan's interest 
greatly, create brotherly love, advance the interest of glorious Christ, the good of 
souls, and tend to the successfulness of the gospel in our parts. 



PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH IN AMERICA. 235 

ference with some of the members of that body commis- 
sioned for this purpose. They record as their reason that a 
very paci tic temper Beems to prevail on both sides. Imme- 
diately following .stands this minute : — ''Ordered, that Messrs. 
McDowell and Sampson Smith represent briefly some of the 
most dangerous opinions and practices of the ' Seceders,' 
and get them printed; and that the books be divided among 
the ministers, who are to sell them where these gentlemen 
are doing most damage. Memorandum : That no one piece 
i a sheet." 

The Xew York Synod met in 1754, having lost Byram bj- 
death, PembertOD by removal, and gained Henry Martin and 
John Brown. In compliance with the desire of the Philadel- 
phia Synod, Burr, Bostwiek, William Tennent, Treat, John 
Blair, and Samuel Finley, were appointed to attend the next 
11 of that body, to confer about the union, but not to 
conclude any thing inconsistent with our former proposals. 
It ir- to be observed, that two of the committee were per- 
sonally excluded by the u Protest," and two others were their 
BUM! devoted adherents. 

In May, 1755, the Philadelphia Synod met; Elmer having 
died, and Gillespie being absent through indisposition. The 
Commissioners from New York were present; and a committee 
appointed of three "Protesters," — Cross, Boyd, and P. 
Alison ; two, who adhered to them, — Cowell and Mcllenry; 
with two ordained since, — Md>owell and Steel. The con- 
ference occupied the whole of the afternoon of the 20th of 

The \ ( \v JTork brethren proposed, that we should 
mutually forgive and forget, and wholly bury all past com- 
plaints and grievances in oblivion, and endeavour', in the 
strength of God, to treat each other hereafter as though 

these things had never been : that, as the synods are two 



the Lord Jesni Christ, the tola King and Bead of theChuroh, thi 

mbUes, mej be «iiii you In all your consultation! and determina- 
t i - ■ r i - . direct and aid yon by lii^ Hoiy Spirit in every thing thai ootnetb before 

a ipiritne] oonfort, the good of souls, the tme 
phureh, and Qod'i glory, la the earnest mj.i ainoere desire of you 
eerranl and brother in the work of the Lord, 

I 

/ Chrhtiana (Treat, Mnj 1"., IT". J. 



236 Webster's history of the 

distinct judicatures not accountable to each other, they meet 
as two contiguous bodies of Christians agreed in principles, 
as though they had never been concerned together before 
or had any difference, which is true of a great part of both 
synods. 

That we should join the synods and presbyteries upon such 
scriptural and rational terms as ma} r secure peace, heal our 
broken churches, and advance religion. And particularly, 
they would have the "Protest" withdrawn, or declared null, 
before the "Union." 

The synod, on hearing this result of the conference, re- 
solved : — 

That they apprehend peace and union of the last im- 
portance to the church of Christ, and do adhere to their pro- 
posals, and can offer nothing further. 

That, if it be asked by any, how we can join those who 
lately had such differences, we think every well-disposed 
Christian would be satisfied with being told, that we 
mutually forgive, according to Christ's command, and agree 
to maintain good conduct, through grace, for the time to 
come. 

That, as to the "Protest," we shall on the "Union" carry it 
towards our brethren as though it had never been made ; and, 
as those who are aggrieved and obtain no satisfying redress 
have a right to require their " Protest" to be recorded, so, 
none but those who enter a protest can withdraw it or dis- 
annul it. 

They added, that they thought it unbrotherly for the New 
York Synod to meet in Philadelphia. 

The New York Synod met in October; having ordained 
Knox, Greenman, and Hoge. In answer to the Philadelphia 
proposals, they resolved, — 

That they were lacking in distinctness concerning the con- 
tinuance of presbyteries and congregations as they are, and 
concerning ministerial communion, as set forth in the para- 
graph concerning essentials. That they could, with no pro- 
priety, insist on the disannulling of the "Protest," if they 
will declare that they do not in a synodical capacity adopt it. 
That, on their doing this, we propose to unite on the terms 



PRESBYTERIAN CIIURCH IN AMERICA. 237 

proposed to them in 1740 and '50, the article concerning the 
"Protest" being accepted. 

That the synod, thus composed of both bodies, shall, 
immediately after being constituted, proceed to hear and 
determine, if needful, the differenced between the "Protesters" 
and the "Excluded." 

They gave as a reason for meeting in Philadelphia, that it 
WBfi Deeemavy for the convenience of distant brethren. 

The Synod of Philadelphia, in 1756, was very thinly at- 
tended : they had lost Hamilton by death, received Alexander 
Miller from Ireland, and ordained Matthew Wilson and Mc- 
K-nuan. 

They instructed their missionaries to the Southern colonies, 
!y, in all their public administrations and private conver- 
sation-. n> promote peace and union among the societies, and 
avoid whatever may foment divisions and party spirit; and to 
treat every minister from the Synod of New York of like 
principles and peaceful temper in a brotherly manner; "for 
wr desire to promote true religion, and not party designs*" 

They Bent a copy of these instructions to the Mens York 
Synod, and answered their proposals unanimously as follows : — 

u We are heartily desirous that the synods be united, and all 
the presbyteries be united, as the members lie contiguous, that 
the union In- in name, and in reality in love ami true affection. 
In a Bynodical capacity, we declare that we neither do nor did 
adopl the Protesl us a term of ministerial communion: it was 
never mentioned to our members, any more than any of the 
protests delivered on tin- oceasion of those differences. AVe 
Only adopt and desire i" adhere to our standards as we for- 
merly agreed when united in one body. 

••Wo are in e:inn--t tor peace and union; and we appoint 

the commission of our synod, on timely notice given, to meet 
with siieh members as the Synod of New Sork may appoint 
f.r this purpose, :it Philadelphia, or some other convenient 

. to adjust matters previous to a union." 

There was a full attendance at the New Y>rk Synod in the 
fall. There hud been ordained Wnitaker, Bait* and Earns; 
( 11 -at as a correspondent, and Leydl also, of the Reformed 
Dutch church in \ew Brunswick. After much debating, they 

came to the following agreement on the Bubjed of the union : — 



288 WEBSTER'S HISTORY OF THE 

" Though the Philadelphia Synod have not given a satisfac- 
tory answer to the particulars which were judged necessary to 
be settled previous to an union, the synod, from an earnest 
desire of a hearty and lasting union, do comply with their 
proposal of a mutual conference, and appoint Gilbert and 
"William Tennent, Burr, Davenport, Treat, Finley, Blair, Caleb 
Smith, Prime, and James Brown, to be a committee to meet 
with their commission at Trenton, the second Wednesday in 
May next, to fix upon a proper plan of union, to be laid before 
both synods at their next meeting." 

Their next meeting was on the 18th of May, there having 
been ordained Ramsey, James Finley, Dufiield, McAden, and 
Reeve. 

The Committee of Conference reported, that they found the 
Philadelphia commissioners well disposed for union ; that they 
declared for themselves, and doubted not but their synod would 
readily declare, that they do not look upon the Protest as the 
act of their body, nor adopt it as such; and that there ap- 
peared to be also an agreement on both sides concerning the 
nature and right of protesting, and other things formerly pro- 
posed as necessary to a union; and that it was agreed on 
both sides, to propose to each synod to have their next meeting 
at the same time and place, to unite if matters shall at that 
time appear ripe for it. Samuel and James Finley, John Blair, 
Robert Smith, and John Rodgers were appointed to prepare a 
plan as the ground of the union, and bring it in to the com- 
mission at their meeting. The synod, in view of so desirable 
a prospect of union, agreed to meet at Philadelphia at the 
time of the other synod's meeting, and to propose that the 
commissions of both synods meet on the Monday before the 
synod, to prepare matters for both bodies and their happy 
union. 

The Synod of Philadelphia met in the spring of 1757, having 
lost McHenry by death, and received John Miller. Thirteen 
ministers were present, and nine elders. Boyd was chosen 
moderator. Having heard the report of their committee and 
received the minute of the New York Synod, they instructed 
their commission to meet at the time proposed. 

On the commission of the Philadelphia Synod were Cross, 



PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH IN AMERICA. 239 

Francis Alison, Steel, Cowell, McDowell, Tate, McKennan, 
Smith, and Boyd, the moderator. 

On the New York commission were Pierson, Burr, Spencer, 
Prime, James Brown, William and Gilbert and Charles Ten- 
nent, Davenport, Treat, Samuel Finley, Rodgers, and Bostwick, 
the moderator. 

Before the meeting Burr and Davenport died. Alison, who 
had recently received the degree of D.D. from the University 
of Glasgow, preaehed before the two commissions from Eph. 
iv. 1-8. The sermon was published with the title, "Peace and 
Union recommended." Bostwick preached from 2 Cor. iv. 5. 
Hie Bermon was published also, and reprinted in Scotland with 
the title, "Self disclaimed and Christ exalted." The com- 
missions met, Hector Alison, John Miller, Smith, and McDowell 
having been appointed, with the committee previously named 
by the other synod, to prepare a first draft of the plan. 
The Bynod of Philadelphia on the afternoon of Friday accepted 
the plan, with a few alterations they desired to be made in it, 
and requested the Synod of New York that the committee 
may meet again and communicate the alterations each body 
mighl desire to the other. This was readily complied with. 
On Saturday, the New York Synod maturely considered the 
plan with the amendments, and unanimously approved of it 
and agreed to it, ami judged it to be their duty to unite with 
the Bynod of Philadelphia on the same. Each body having 
i to th<- amemlim-nts proposed by the other, the Synod 
of Philadelphia unanimously approved of it as a satisfactory 
plan. They then sent a message, desiring that the time and 
place of meeting i te body may be agreed on. 

At three p.m., in the Second Presbyterian Churcb, the two 
synods met, Sampson Smith being moderator of the one, and 
Samuel Davies of the other. The plan of union was read and 
unanimously agreed to, the union was accomplished, and a 
new book opened and the whole plan and articles of agree- 
menl entered May ii'.», IT 



WEBSTER'S HISTORY OF THE 



CHAPTER IX. 

Whitefield reached Annapolis September 27, 1745, and 
preached eight times before the Legislative Council and As- 
sembly. He proceeded to Hanover, in Virginia, and saw there 
the happy effects produced in part by the reading of his ser- 
mons, which had been published from notes taken at Glasgow, 
while he preached extempore. Blair and Tennent had just 
been there and administered the Lord's Supper. Whitefield 
preached four or five days, which was a fresh* encouragement 
to the newly-gathered flock, for others were engaged to serve 
the Lord, especially of the church people, who the more readily 
hearkened to the gospel from him "because he was in orders." 
In North Carolina he made but little stay and accomplished 
but little. He remained some time in Georgia, and then sailed 
for Maryland. There, " thousands had never heard of redeem- 
ing grace : the heat tries my wasting tabernacle ; but, through 
Christ strengthening me, I intend to persist in preaching till I 
drop." 

The news of the Rebellion of '45 seems to have produced 
little excitement in America. Whitefield preached, on the 
occasion of its suppression, August 24, 1746, a sermon, which 
he printed with the title, "Britain's Mercy and Duty." From 
Annapolis, he wrote, November 8, "Lately I have been in 
seven counties in Maryland, and preached with abundant suc- 
cess. The harvest is great here. I have preached to large 
congregations and with great power." He made a circuit of 
three hundred miles through Maryland and into Pennsylvania, 
up the Susquehanna as far as Deny. "Thousands and thou- 
sands were ready to hear, but nobody goes out scarcely but 
myself." 

At this very period Davies was labouring with Robinson in 

* Morris's Narrative. 



PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH IN AMERICA. 241 

that region. The revival was great in Queen Anne county 
and at Buckingham, but especially in Somerset county; in 
Baltimore county, it was like the first planting of the gospel.* 

TVhitefield spent the winter at Bethesda. In March, 1747, 
Brainerd published his journal with the title, " Mirabilia Dei 
inter Indicos." 

Whiteneld came to Bohemia by land, making a journey of 
six weeks from Bethesda. " As I came along, I saw Mr. Davis. 
He is licensed, as are the four houses ; but there is a proclama- 
tion issued against all itinerants. Jesus has been very gracious 
to us southward, and, as we came along, the desert seemed to 
blossom as the rose." He wrote, April 26, to Mrs. B., in 
Virginia, from Bohemia, "After two days' abode here, I pur- 
I tod willing; to take a three weeks' circuit in hunting for 
Maryland Burners. In Virginia, for the present, the door is 
shut; but I believe it will be open in the fall to more advan- 
I have QO thoughts of visiting it this spring. The cloud 
moves another way. However, night and day 1 shall remember 
you in your little hut." He was al Dover in Delaware on the 
8th of May: "all next October, God willing, 1 have devoted 
to poor North Carolina." Nor was he unmindful of Dover; 
soon after, the Bo-ton ministers sent thither John Miller, who 
lor almost half a eentury was a burning and a shining light to 
tin- peninsula. 

E$e was al Wicomico on the lGth of May. In this ancient 

seal of Presbyterianism, Robinson and Daviea had laboured 

with great success. w- < 'hrist'rt strength is in some degree mag- 

nith-1 in my weakness, and my preaching is blessed to poor 

Amazing love I Maryland is yielding converts to the 

I gospel." "Methinks I see you rejoice and ready to 

Save the Marylanders also received the grace of God? 

1 tru-t some have indeed received his grace in sincerity. The 

harvest is promising. Sou and the other, dear neighbouring 

ministers are always on my heart." Philadelphia, dune 6: 

'•Mr. I'., will let you know that the WOld has rim and been 

glorified in Maryland. Satan has attempted to stop the pro- 

■ rlastdng gospel in Virginia ; bui I belii 
has overshot him.-eit'." June 28; "To-morrow I Bel oul for New 

* Daties'a printed Letter to Bellamy. 
16 



242 Webster's history of the 

York to gain strength. At present I am so weak, I cannot 
preach." July 4: "I have been in New York eight days, and 
have preached twice with great freedom : once to a very large 
auditory, and did not feel myself much worse next morning. 
A pleasing prospect of action lies before me. People flock 
rather more than ever, and the Lord vouchsafes us solemn 
meetings." Early in September he went to New England, and 
then proceeded by land to the South. lie preached once in 
Virginia : the smallpox was spreading, and the Assembly did 
not sit. 

At Bathtown, a port of entry on the north side of Tar River, 
in North Carolina, he preached three times. " The Lord seems 
to have given me the affections of the people, and I am deter- 
mined in his strength to see what can be done." 

He reached Charleston as early as October 25. " The barren 
wilderness was made to smile all the way. I trust good was 
done in North Carolina, The poor people were very willing 
to hear." 

He remained in Georgia and South Carolina till the close of 
March, when he sailed for the Bermudas. 

At the commencement of missionary labours in the Valley 
of Virginia, Anderson had sent thither, with recommendations, 
a preacher from New England named Dunlap. Gelston, An- 
derson, and Thomson visited Opequhon, Bullskin, and adjacent 
places. Craig was settled on the Triple Forks of the Shenan- 
doah. McDowell and Hyndman were ordained as evangelists, 
principally with a view to Virginia; but the former made only 
one tour, and the other died soon after being called to Rock- 
fish and Mountain Plain. Lyon, a probationer, and Caven, on 
being released from Conecocheague, visited the South Branch 
of Potomac, and the Eastern Branch also. In 1743, Robinson 
had gone from Frederick county in Virginia, through Augusta, 
Campbell, Prince Edward, Charlotte, and Hanover, and through 
North Carolina, even to the Pedee River. In 1744, supplica- 
tions from North Carolina were sent to Philadelphia Synod, 
and a request was made that one of the members might be 
appointed to correspond with them. That duty was assigned 
to John Thomson, and he went to them, as he would have 
gone to a presbytery which had desired the synod that he 
might correspond with them. 



PRESBYTERIAN CHrRCH IN AMERICA. 243 

The Synod of New York, in answer to pressing suppliea- 
in 1745. desired Robinson to go thither; but his failing 
health forbade, and he intrusted that important work to Davies. 
Rodgere followed him, bat could not obtain permission to qua- 
lity himself under the Toleration Act. 

In 1747, Byram, of Mendham, New Jersey, and Dean, of 
Brandywine Manor, went into Augusta and the neighbouring 
oonntiea i «f Virginia. An extensive awakening followed, whieh 
continued till 1751. They were followed the next year by 
Alexander' Gumming, who laboured much in Augusta and in 
N< >rth Carolina, and was the first of our ministers who preached 
in Tennessee.* In 1740, the Xew York Synod represented to 
the Association of the Eastern District of Fairfield the neces- 
oondition of Virginia* and urged them, but wholly with- 
out success, to send thither a minister or a candidate. In 1750, 
-•nt Todd, then just licensed, and Davenport, who pur- 
jettle there, but found no suitable opening. "He 
i two inonths in Hanover, and did not labour in vain : some 
wove brought under concern, and many of the Lord's people 
BUch revived, who <an never forget the instrument of it."f 

Todd was installed in the tipper part of Hanover, in 1752, 
and < t-reenmau went thither as a missionary, and Robert Henry 
nh- at < 'uli ( 'reek. 
In 171*, the Synod of Philadelphia resolved to send a mi- 
nister to apend eight weeks in As lall, and another as much 
time in the spring, in the bark-parts of Virginia. Steel, of 

Nottingham, and Xam-hy, of Hanover, went in 1748; Tate, 

of Donegal, and McHenry, of Deep Eton, in 1 741' ; Griffith, 
of Pencader, in 1760; Sector Alison, of Drawjere, ami 8am- 
.-"ii Smith, of Ohestnol Level, in 17-">1 ; sfcKennan, of Red 
I een weekB in 1762; if oMordie, of Marsh Oreek, 

and William Donaldson, a probationer, in 17."'-".; Tate ami 

Kinkiad, of Ndiritoii, in 17~>4; Donaldson, Matthrw Wilson, 

a probationer, ami klcKennan, in 175.",. 

Tin- < >ld Bide had not settled one minister in Virginia during 
ben 3 ean : they had \< <n by death, ami had only ( Iraig 

ami Black left The New Side had Davies, si Hanover, Todd, 



f Darica to Bellamy. 



244 Webster's history of the 

in Louisa, Alexander Creaghead, on Cowpasture River near 
Windy Cove, Robert Henry, at Cub Creek, John Wright, in 
Cumberland and in the valley, John Brown, at Timber-ridge, 
and John Hoge, at Opequhon. These ministers, except Hoge, 
were formed into Hanover Presbytery in October, 1755, and 
all ministers who might settle south or west of Hoge's congre- 
gation had leave to join it. 

Whitefield landed at Beaufort, South Carolina, May 27, 1754. 
Having better health, he exclaimed, " Oh that I may at last 
learn to begin to live!" He sailed for New York, and from 
the close of June to the middle of September, he travelled 
from there to Philadelphia and back, proceeding occasionally 
as far as White Clay. "Everywhere prejudices were removed, 
a more effectual door opened for preaching the gospel, and a 
divine power accompanied the word." On Wednesday, July 
31, he preached in the morning at Newark, at New Brunswick 
at two in the afternoon, and reached Trenton at night. His 
labours were blessed at Philadelphia and New York, and "we 
had good seasons at the places between them. The shout of a 
king has been among us. In Philadelphia, in New Jersey, and at 
New York, the Great Redeemer caused his word to be glorified !" 
He set out on the 1st of October for Boston, with President 
Burr, and travelled as far as Portsmouth in New Hampshire. 
" Souls flew as doves to their windows : opposition seemed gene- 
rally to have subsided." He left Boston, November 7, and, 
though he had thought, in September, that Providence pointed 
directly to Virginia and the Orphan-house, he remained in Mary- 
land from the middle of December till the close of the year. 

People came in great numbers to hear him, some as far as 
forty and fifty miles: prejudices seemed gone; the churches 
were all open to him, and a happy work of conviction and 
consolation visibly appeared. Many declared what God had 
done for them during his former visits. He had just entered 
on his fortieth year when he set out for Virginia, January 
17, 1755. "Fresh doors of usefulness, I trust, are opening 
in Virginia. The prospect is promising indeed. People have 
flocked from all parts to hear the word of God ; arrows of con- 
viction have fled, and I believe stuck fast. Seed sown several 
years ago has sprung up and brought forth fruit." He reached 
Charleston in February, and sailed in May for England. 



PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH IN AMERICA. 245 

In 17o4, Beatty, of Xeshaminy, and Thane, of Connecticut 
Farms, went to Xorth Carolina, and the latter penetrated to the 
thinly-scattered tract between Broad and Saluda Rivers. The 
French War, long threatened, broke out, and the Southern 
Indians took up arras against the English. As a distressing 
drought also was felt severely in Pennsylvania and in most of 
the colonies^ the Provincial Government of Virginia appointed 
the -"tli of March for a day of fasting and pra}-er. 

In May, it was represented to New Brunswick Presbytery 
that there were fourteen congregations in Xorth Carolina. 
Hugh McAdcn, a probationer of Newcastle Presbytery, 
visited theni in the summer, and seems, soon after, to have 
been ordained and sent thither as an evangelist. About this 
period, Creaghead took up his abode on Sugar Creek, in 
Mecklenburg connty. Campbell, of Tehicken, in 1756 or '57, 
minister of the Scottish settlers on Blount's and 
I Creeks and the northwestern branch of Cape Pear 

River. 

The settlers in Western Virginia and North Carolina, being 
chiefly from Pennsylvania, carried with them all the propose 
.-'■"ions and antipathies of the Old and New Side : the latter 
party largely preponderated in most places, and all traces of 
missionaries of the Philadelphia Synod were gone. Davies 
speaks of the Old Bide as having but two congregations in 
Virginia in 1751. They had, besides Craig's and Black's 
charges, in 1750, congregations worshipping at Brown's 
ing-house in 1751, at Buffalo settlement, where John 
Thomson spent part of his da^s, and on the South Branch 
of Potomac; in L752, at North Mountain, sis miles west of 
Staunton, South Mountain, Timber-grove or Timber-ridge, 
North River, embracing Lexington and New Monmouth) 
Cook's Creek, near Harrisonburg, in Rockingham, and at 
John Hinson's; and also on Peeked Mountain and Calf- 
pasture River. Black also supplied the settlers at Hawfield's, 
I and Eico, and on Little River in North Carolina. At all 
tie- settlements between Yadkin and Catawba, and at Reedy 

Cre< •]<, they had adherents, and the missionaries paid es] ial 

attention to them ; but not one of them settled an Old 
minister. John Alison, a probationer, Bpent much time 
among them, but he returned to Lreland in 1766. Donaldson 



246 WEBSTER'S HISTORY OF THE 

appears to have settled in South Carolina. The only congre- 
gations in Virginia which received a minister from the Phila- 
delphia Synod, before the union, were the two in Rockingham, 
Alexander Miller having been installed at Cook's Creek and 
Peeked Mountain in 1758. 

With the extension of territory, came a new depletion to 
the Irish congregations. Creaghead, on forsaking the New 
Side in August, 1741, made immediate application to the 
Reformed Presbytery in Scotland for assistants in the minis- 
terial work ; but no success seems to have attended his 
request, and, before Cuthbertson came, he had opened a 
correspondence with the Associate Synod of Edinburgh. As 
early as 1750,* he wrote in behalf of a considerable body of 
sober people who could not comfortably or conscientiously 
unite with either branch of the Presbyterians. He alleged 
that with neither synod would adherence to the Westminster 
Confession of Faith be deemed a test of orthodoxy ; that they 
were lax in church communion and did not preserve the 
purity of religion. He, together with those in whose name he 
wrote, regarded themselves as bound by their Baptismal Cove- 
nant, and by the Solemn League and Covenant, to contend for 
the whole of the faith. This appeal was made to the Burgher 
Synod ; and in answer to it, after much delay, David Telfair 
and Kinloch came to Pennsylvania, and Thomas Clark, from 
Ballybay, in Ireland, with a number of families, to Salem, in 
Washington county, New York. A church was formed which 
worshipped in Shippen Street, Philadelphia, and others in 
Orange and Washington counties, New York. Before they 
came, Creaghead had joined Newcastle Presbytery and be- 
came a member of the Synod of New York; in 1751 or '52, he 
settled in Virginia. 

Cuthbertson had been ordained by McMillan and Nairne,f 
the first founders of the Reformed Presbytery in Scotland. 



* McKerrow's History of the Secession Church. 

■}• Nairne was the minister of Abbotshall, and left the Establishment and joined 
the Associate Presbytery. When he went over to the Covenanters, the Seceders 
called him to account ; but the Reformed Presbytery, with Cuthbertson for mode- 
rator, served them with a solemn interdict to proceed no further. They, however, 
deposed Nairne, who, after a time, returned to the Establishment, and, on a public 
acknowledgment, was restored to the ministry. When asked why, having left the 



PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH IN AMERICA. 247 

He is said to have come to this country iu 1751 or '52. He 
formed praying-societies after the model of the Mountain 
Men, one of which was in the TVallkill congregation, in 
Orange county, Xew York. He laboured in Chester and 
Lam-aster counties, Pennsylvania; but his chief success was 
on the west side of the Susquehanna. He had a discussion 
with Evandcr Morrison at Middle Octorara. His assertion, 
that the HTew-Side ministers urged their hearers to prepare 
themselves to receive the free grace of God, was vehemently 
denied. Early in September, 1753, Roan and Smith met in 
committee by appointment of Newcastle Presbytery, and 
Fin l«-y and Davies, in conjunction with them, revised and 
corrected a draft of a warning or testimony, drawn up by 
John Blair, against several errors and evil practices of Cuth- 
berteon. Among the errors they animadverted on were these: 
— That God has made over Christ and his benefits by a deed 
of gift to all that hear the gospel, so that every sinner who 
the gospel offer ought to put in a claim to him, as his 
Saviour in particular; that saving faith consists in a per- 
suasion that Christ is mine; and that he died for me in 
particular. 

It is not known whether "the Scotch bigot," as Davie- 
styles Cuthberteon, took any notice of this paper; but it ap- 
peared just at the time when the missionaries of the Anti- 
Burgher Synod — Arnot and Gellatly — began their operations 
at Middle Octorara. An appendix to " The "Warning" was 
directed against them. The presbytery seems to have passed 
over the peculiarities of the Covenanter system, and to have 
struck at the doctrines* for which the BrsMnes left the Kirk 



k'.i k OB S< unt Of her defeOtlonB, hfl had returnc'l, lie -:ii<l he saw in her a rlmiiL'e 

for the better. The moderator said} " The only ekange in the kirk, thus fa, was 

fa the worse." — MrKerrow. 

thaaiel Haaard, "f New Y<>rk, wrote to Dr. Bellamy, December 8, 1766: — 
learning, and piety. Mr. Bostwiok and Mr. Unit approve hi 
preaching." November 17, it."is : •* The .- t up a new mi 

bonne, about twenty-eeven bet wide and forty font long. Mr. Oellally has been 
praaebing in it bar weeks. Borne bMfaoattonj of his and his brethren's being 
nnsonnri in the article of Faith, ezeitfld him to declare their tentiaienta on it t" a 
very numerous Mndttoryi in vindleation, lie pnbliely read the Datoh, French, 
1 Cboreb, and . which were esteemed. I believe, 

bj all that beard it, as being subsUuitially the same with theirs. If you are strong 



248 Webster's history of the 

of Scotland, the doctrines which were zealously upheld by 
the best men during the Marrow Controversy, and which con- 
stituted the chief charm to Toplady and Boston in that an- 
cient and excellent treatise, — " The Marrow of Modern Divi- 
nity;" and its fellow, "The Gospel Mystery of Sanctifica- 
tion," by the mellifluous Stephen Marshall. 

The Associate Presbytery and the Reformed were united in 
their testimony on these points : — 1. Christ has died for the 
elect. 2. There is in the nature of saving faith an appropria- 
tion of Christ and his benefits. 3. The gospel is indiscrimi- 
nately offered to all. 4. The righteousness of Christ is the 
only proper condition of the covenant of grace. 

In 1754, the Old-Side Synod directed McDowell and Samson 
Smith to represent briefly some of the most dangerous prin- 
ciples and practices of the Seceders, that they might be printed 
and sold where those gentlemen are doing most damage. 

Gellatly prepared a severe reply to the New-Side brethren, 
entitled the "Detector."* All the charges made by Creag- 
head of laxity he assumed to be true, and demanded whether 
they, who had set the example of forming separate presbyteries 
and of dividing congregations, had any right to blame others 
for ministering to those at whose call they crossed the ocean, 
and who were as conscientiously opposed to the New-Side 
methods and peculiarities, as the New Side were to the dege- 
neracy of the Old Side. He warmly assailed the paragraph 
about essentials, and the assumption that one may be a true 
follower of Christ who did not believe all that Christ had 
taught, or regard all that he had commanded as necessary 
duty. He also objected to the orations as well as prayers at 
funerals, and to the heterodoxy of some who impugned the 
eternal generation of the Son of God. At firstf the Burghers 
and Anti-Burghers freely united in one presbytery ; but the 
Anti-Burgher Synod in Scotland refused the Associate Pres- 
bytery of Pennsylvania any countenance or aid, until, that con- 



enough to set your shoulder against the whole Protestant world, then condemn 
the Seceders as unsound in the article of Faith, and enter an endless controversy, 
which, I imagine, will never do twopence-worth of good; and, whether right or 
wrong at present, I am of opinion they will be right in a little time if you let 
them alone." 

* Philadelphia Library. f Rev. J. P. Miller's Sketches. 



PRESBYTERIAX CHURCH IX AMERICA. 249 

nection was dissolved with all ministers who denied the sinful- 
ness of the Burgess oath. This was soon effected, and the 
places of the excluded were supplied by a number of able and 
eminent preachers of righteousness. 

Samuel Finley and Robert Smith replied to the pamphlet 
of Gellatly in a piece entitled the " Detector Detected."* They 
quoted largely from Blair's animadversions on Creaghead's 
reasons for leaving the Presbyterian connection, in disproof 
of the accusation of laxity in doctrine and decline from the 
"Westminster Confession in doctrine and discipline. They 
quoted the Irish Burgher ministers, — Samuel Delap, of Letter- 
kenny, and Thomas Clark, of Ballybay, — as authority for 
charging the Anti-Burghers with forsaking not only the com- 
munion of bad men and errorists, but the constitution of the 
church also, and with excluding from communion the best of 
men. They said that Clark esteemed the treatment of the 
Erskinee as a great impiety, and lamented the success the 
Anti-Burghers had in imposing on so many in Philadelphia. 
The Anti-Burghers were not without success elsewhere: they 
gathered congregations in New York City, and in several other 
places in that province, at Octorara, Pequea, Chestnut Level, 
Forks of Brandywine, Fagg'a Manor, Oxford, Deep Run, in 
the Forks of Delaware, in York and Adams county, and 
indeed in almost every Presbyterian settlement west of Sus- 
quehanna. They also spread to the southern and western 
limits ..l' emigration, and, nit hough small in numbers, they re- 
mained separated from all else, honourably distinguished, for 

the most part, by knowledge of the truth and steadfast ad- 
herence to every jut and little of the law and the testimony. 

The Covenanters were found wesi of the Susquehanna, ami 
it is believed that only throe ministers of thai persuasion came 
to this country before the Revolution. These were Cuthbert- 
son, Lind, of Conecocheague, ami Alexander Dobbin, ^>i' 
Adams county; ami these all lived to join with the Ami- 
lers ami the Burghers in forming the Associate Re- 
formed Synod in 1782. 
The congregations in New Jersey seem i,> have escaped 
divisions) and to have had uninterrupted peace. The 

* Philadelphia i-i' 



250 Webster's history of the 

only two exceptions seems to have been in Amwell, where, 
according to the testimony of a Church missionary, two hun- 
dred Presbyterians, in 1753, conformed to the Episcopal 
mode;* and on Black River, where the Separates or Strict 
Congregationalists established a congregation, still existing at 
Chester. 

At the union of the synods there were twenty ministers be- 
longing to the Synod of Philadelphia, and seventy-two In con- 
nection with the Synod of New York ; yet the former, with 
suicidal zeal, insisted on the amalgamation of the presbyte- 
ries ; the ministers and congregations which were contiguous 
to be united in one body. To this the New Side objected 
to the last, though they had nothing to lose by it, and though 
it put the Old-Side ministers, with their congregations, en- 
tirely under their control and uncovenanted mercy. 

Upon this plan, Suffolk and New York Presbyteries re- 
mained unchanged. New Brunswick Presbytery received 
Cowell and Guild from Philadelphia, thus leaving Cross and 
Dr. Alison to be joined with the large Presbytery of Abing- 
don, under the name of Philadelphia Presbytery, and to stand 
by themselves in a hopeless minority. The like discomfort 
awaited Craig, Black, and Alexander Miller, who were set off 
from Donegal to Hanover Presbytery. The Presbytery of 
Lewes was erected, to consist of two Old-Side members — 
Wilson and John Miller — and three New-Side men, — Hugh 
Henry, Harris, and Tuttle. With these exceptions, the Pres- 
byteries of Donegal, and first and second Newcastle, remained 
for a time unchanged. 

At the rupture, the Synod of Philadelphia was left with 
twenty-two ministers ; before the union, they received five and 
ordained seventeen, and at the union, they had only twenty. 

There was an amazing superiority in numbers in the New 
York Synod, sixty-six having been ordained and fifteen re- 
ceived. The latter were all natives of New England except 
Morrison, who was probably born and ordained in Scotland. 
About one-third of those ordained were also New Englanders; 
there were two Englishmen and one Welshman ; of the re- 



* This is stated in Hawkins's Missions of the English Church. Is it not 
apocryphal ? 



PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH IX AMERICA. 251 

mainder, half were born in Ireland, and the rest within the 
bounds of the synod. 

To account for the difference of ministerial increase, we 
must consider the difference of territory. The New York 
Synod had the old settled provinces of New York and New 
Jersey wholly to themselves, presenting eligible settlements 
and likely to attract candidates from New England, The Old 
.Side had in common with them the provinces of Pennsyl- 
vania. Maryland, and Delaware, with the new settlements in 
Virginia and Carolina. The Old-Side congregations had been 
rent, and afforded barely a maintenance ; while the New-Side 
congregations, gathered during the Revival, were vigorous, 
united, and growing, and they furnished a very considerable 
number of candidates, as Roan, Dean, Davies, Rodgers, Todd, 
Hugh Henry, Robert Smith, Harris, Ramsey, DurHeld, and 
MeAden. It is remarkable that Moses Tuttle was the only 
New England minister who settled below New Jersey, and 
Bleazez Wlrittieqey the only candidate who sought to labour 
among the Scotch and Irish; and there were scarcely any, 
les Spencer and (inhuman, who found a home in New 
Brunswick or Abingdon Presbyteries; 

The difference must be resolved mainly into the influence 
of the great Revival; the Spirit was poured out from on high 
on the young nun, and they forsook their trades and gave 
themselves to the ministry. Roan, Bay, and Todd had been 
weavers, Oheenut a shoemaker, Tuttle a sailor, Laurence a 
blacksmith, and ('. Tennent a saddler. 

'I'm nee the language of Friends, "a spring of ministry was 
opened ;" and on beholding tin- rapid oiling up of the ranks 
in that period with ['ions, eealous, able, and. in many eases, 
distinguished ministers, "who knoweth not that the hand of 
the Lord has done this?" "He gave the word: great was 
the company of them that published it." 

A singular circumstance is also i" !»<• observed, — the ceasing 
of tin- influx from [reland of candidates or ministers. Many 
young in- n from that country began to prepare for the Bacred 
work after they had Been tin- grace of God here; but few or. 
do graduates of Glasgow or Edinburgh came as tiny had 
formerly done; none, it is believed, came t<> the New York 
Synod, and very few, if any, to the other body. Not a single 



252 Webster's history of the 

instance is known of an ordained minister from Ireland having 
come over to unite with either synod, nor from England. 
The Philadelphia Synod received from Scotland, Scongal, who 
soon died, and Brown, who, in less than a year, sought his 
native soil. The New Side received Evander Morrison, who 
may have been ordained in Scotland, though it is not unlikely 
that he was admitted to the sacred office in New England, 
where he preached in 1749. The application of the church in 
Philadelphia for an assistant and successor to Robert Cross 
was presented to the Presbytery of Edinburgh and to the 
Independent ministers in England, and was disregarded. 

It is interesting to observe, among the fruits of the Revival, 
a turning from man's inventions to the Scriptural mode of 
church government. Whitefield told Erskine* that if, when a 
candidate for the ministry, he had had the views held in 1740, 
he would not have sought ordination from the hands of a 
diocesan prelate. Edwards, a few years later, wrote, "I 
have long been perfectly out of conceit of our unsettled, inde- 
pendent, confused way of church government in the land ; 
and the Presbyterian way has ever appeared to me most 
agreeable to the word of God and the reason and nature of 
things." 

By the advice of Whitefield, the friends of the Revival who 
separated from the First Church in Newbury, Massachusetts, 
adopted the Presbyterian form; and the people at Milford, 
Connecticut, in like circumstances, declared themselves sober 
dissenters from the standing order, worshipping after the 
model of the Church of Scotland. Horror of divisive prac- 
tices kept the Synod of New York from countenancing or 
winking at any movements in New England to leave the set- 
tled ministry and gather Presbyterian congregations. There 
appears to have been only two of the Irish ministers in that 
region who warmly espoused the side of Whitefield, — Moorhead 
and McGregoire. A few years after, Parsons, with his church 
in Newburyport, united with them. In 1758, they in a formal 
and explicit manner adopted the Westminster standards. This 
presbytery had no connection with the Synod of New York ; 

* Philips's Whitefield. 



PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH IN" AMERICA. 253 

but in its difficulties with Abercrombie,* who, in 1753, charged 
them with looseness in regard to subscribing the Confession, 
they offered to refer the matters in controversy for final adju- 
dication to the synod at its session in May, 1758. 

The original Presbytery of Boston was opened in 1745, by 
the Rev. William McClenachan, A.M., of Blandford, with a 
sermon in the French meeting-house. The French church 
disbanded in 1748, and their meeting-house passed into the 
hands of the Separates, who, with the Rev. Andrew Crosswell 
for pastor, formed the Eleventh Congregational Society. The 
last trace of this judicatory appears in the Records of Dutchess 
Presbytery, September 9, 1765, when the Rev. Samuel Dunlap, 
of Cherry Valley, was received as a member, the "presbytery 
to the eastward of Boston," to which he belonged, "being in- 
capable of sitting by reason of the dispersion of its members." 

The ministers on the east end of Long Island had been 
favoured with great success during the Revival, and they were 
called t<> endure a great light of affliction. For Davenport had 
been the chief instrument used by God in reviving his work, 
and In- had left the impress of his Spirit on a large body of 
P&OUS people. They separated from their ministers, being 
under doubt of their conversion, or from some like weighty 
:. Many, after Davenport's retraction, laid aside their 
extravagances of opinion and practice; but a greater number 
had drunk so largely of them that their very bones were dyed 
through and throughout. They organized the Strict Congre- 
gational churches, with all the appendages of lay exhorteis and 

females praying in public. 

on tin- mIi of April, 1717, the Refer. Ebeneeer White, of 
Bridgehampton, Nathaniel Mather, of A.cquebogue, Bbeneaer 
Prime, of Huntingdon, BSbenezei Gould, ofOutchogue, Sylva- 

BUS White, of Southampton, and Samuel linell, of Kasthainp- 

ton, •• ministers on the island of Nassau," mej at Southampton, 
and, in view of the "broken state of the churches, the preva> 
Lencj of separations and divisions, and the growing mischiefs 

* Robert Abercrombie, on being licensed, oame from Scotland to Nen England in 
tli •• fill ••! 17 l"», with testimonial* from the Presbyteries of Edinburgh and Kirk- 
aldy, and recommendations from the Rot. Mr. Wilson, of Perth: ii<' iras ordained 

aneil a1 Pelhai Bo joined frith M ' h a n d and Mc O re g o ir e 

iu fanning Boston Preobjtorj at Londonderry, April 16, 1746. 



254 Webster's history of the 

those disorders are big with, did, after repeated addresses to 
the throne of grace, some debate and serious consultations, 
covenant to unite in a presbytery. They were satisfied that 
the disorders were much owing to the want of some stated 
rules of ecclesiastical government, and were persuaded, accord- 
ing to light received from the word of God, that Presbyterian 
government in its most essential articles was consonant to the 
mind and will of the glorious Head and King of the Church, 
and will best answer the ends of government in the churches 
to which they sustain the pastoral relation. They regarded 
the Westminster Confession as agreeable to the word of God 
and a suitable test of orthodoxy. They covenanted to endea- 
vour to engage their people to join with them, and to seek to 
draw vacant and unsettled congregations to place themselves 
under their care." At this meeting, the churches of Easthamp- 
ton, Bridgehampton, and Southampton were represented by 
delegates, who also entered into the covenant. A few weeks 
after, they met, and there were favourable appearances in the 
churches of concurrence ; but Southampton embraced the pro- 
posal nem. con. Mr. Mather died before April, 1748, some of his 
people having forsaken him, and others "having a list that 
way." Soon after the formation of the presbytery, a gracious 
reviving cheered the pastors and united their people firmly to 
them. 

They joined the Synod of New York. It is pleasant to reflect 
that each of these ministers except Gould, who through the 
desertion of his people to the Separates was obliged to remove 
to Connecticut, lived to long life, in vigour to the last, useful 
beyond most men, and closing their days among the people 
who welcomed them in youth and reverenced them in age. 

The Rev. Eleazer Wheelock,* afterwards President of Dart- 
mouth College, wrote from Lebanon, Connecticut, March 13, 
1749, to Dr. Bellamy : — " There are many things that have a 
threatening aspect on our religious interests in these parts: — 
Antinomical principles, and the Korah-like claims which are the 
usual concomitants of them ; prevailing luorldliness and coldness, 
which has become a common distemper among us ; growing 
immorality, justified by the mildness and errors of many high pro- 

* Bellamy MSS. 



PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH IX AMERICA. 255 

fessors; a want of promising candidates for the ministry, and 
the great difficulty that commonly attends the settling of any, 
chiefly through the strait-handedness of parishes toward the 
support of the gospel; the want of a good discrplinc in our 
churches, and the difficulty upon many accounts of reviving it, 
&c. &c. I am fully of the opinion that it is time for ministers 
to wake up for a redress of these evils ; and I can think of no 
way more likely, than for those, who are in the same way of 
thinking about the most important things in religion, to join 
in a presbytery. Don't you see that Arminian candidates can't 
settle in the ministry '.' Don't you see how much those want 
the patronage of a godly presbytery, who do settle? For want 
of it, they get broken bones, which will pain them all their 
days. Would not such a presbytery soon have all the candi- 
date of worth under them, and, consequently, presently most 

vacant churches! Our wild people are not half so much 
prejudiced against the Scottish constitution as against our 
own. Many churches in these parts might easily 1"' brought 
into it, and my sou] longs for it. . . . For my part, I think it 
high lime that men who have been treated as Mr. Bobbins (of 
Branford) was, should have some way of relief, which I am 
informed was the view of that honest Oalvinist who first 
moved in that proposal ... Is there not some reason to hope 
that hereby there will be a door opened for bringing things 

better posture among the Oalvinist party'.'' You know 
h'»w God has overruled things in the Jerseys." 

:i after the Synod of Philadelphia had, in 1789, resolved 
that all persons, before being received as candidates for the 
ministry, should be examined by its committee and approved, 
John Thomson proposed to Donegal Presbytery to ;> s k tho 
synod to establish a Bchool of its own. The synod, in the May 

Of that year, unauiuioii-ly agreed tO do BO ; and the hope was 

expressed, that either Dickinson and Pemberton, or Anderson 
and Robert Cross, might be prevailed on to go home to Europe 
to prosecute the affair. Arrangement! were made t<> facilitate 
Pemberton's going to Boston to prepare preliminary measures. 
The commission, with correspondents from each presbytery, 
wai ordered to inert in August, and draw op proper directions 
for the persons intrusted with this important mission. This 
measure, it' adopted smeolmously, nni-t haws been carried 



256 Webster's history of the 

after the withdrawal of the protesting brethren ; for " Gilbert 
Tennent was hardy enough to tell our synod that he w r ould 
oppose their design of getting assistance wherever we should 
make application, and would maintain young men at his 
father's school in opposition to us." 

The commission met ; but no persons were present, either 
from New York or New Brunswick Presbyteries. Andrews, 
Anderson, Thomson, Boyd, Cross, Martin, and Treat attended, 
with the correspondents, Cathcart, Alison, Black, Jamison, 
and D. Evans. They resolved first to seek divine guidance, 
and David Evans prayed ; they then charged Andrews to write 
to the Church of Scotland, and Thomson to prepare a circular 
letter to the congregations, and agreed to call the synod to- 
gether in September, to deliberate further on the matter. 

Andrews, Cross, and Treat were appointed to prepare ad- 
dresses, credentials, and letters, to be laid before the synod; 
but, the war between England and Spain breaking out, the 
calling of the synod was omitted. 

By private agreement, the three Presbyteries of Newcastle, 
Philadelphia, and Donegal met in committee at the Great 
Valley, November 16, 1743, to consider the necessity of using 
speedy measures to educate youth to supply our vacancies. 
They resolved at once to open a school, and the synod in the 
spring took it under its care. The plan was to give instruction 
in languages, philosophy, and divinity, to all gratis; the school 
to be supported by yearly congregational collections. Alison 
was placed at the head, and eleven ministers were appointed 
trustees to visit the school and examine the scholars. No 
presbytery was allowed to "improve" any scholar who did not 
produce a joint testimonial from the trustees and the synod's 
committee. The synod applied to the Trustees of Yale, to 
receive their scholars at such advanced stages as their profi- 
ciency warranted, and to admit them after a year's residence 
to a degree. Several ministers and gentlemen helped them to 
books to begin a library. They received a favourable response 
from Yale ; but it seems none of their scholars availed them- 
selves of the privilege. 

Professor Hutcheson, of Glasgow, had* proposed to Alison 

* Alison to President Stiles, in MS. at Yale College. 



PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH IX AMERICA. 257 

the setting on foot of a seminary ; and in 1746, he opened a 
correspondence with him, bnt we do not know with what ad- 
vantage. In 1747, the synod determined to endeavour to pay 
the arrears to the master, and to get the congregations more 
generally to contribute. In 1748, they raised his salary to 
,£40, intending to make it up by collections, and by " 'sessing" 
each scholar twenty shillings, and to defray any deficiency out 
of the yearly interest of the fund. In 1749, they declined to 
give Alison leave to remove to Philadelphia, and promised him 
£30, reserving liberty to exempt as many scholars from tuition- 
s they please ; and giving him permission to charge the 
rest as he sees fit. Still, the point was not arranged to his satis- 
faction, and they agreed to exempt only four of their own 
choosing; leaving it to him to choose four others, who should 
enjoy the synod's bounty. He removed, in 1752, to Philadel- 
phia, as master of the Latin school, without consulting the 
presbytery or the commission. The synod overlooked this, on 
the ground that it was "highly probable that in his new sta- 
tion he might be serviceable to the church in teaching philo- 
sophy and divinity so far as his obligations to the academy 
will admit." 

The school was removed to Elk, and placed under the care 
of McDowell, immediately on Alison's resignation. He had 
£20 from the synod, and an assistant. In 1754, he declined 
the whole burden, but consented without charge to teach logic, 
mathematics, and natural and moral philosophy. The encou- 
ragement formerly allowed him was given to his assistant, 
Matthew Wilson. It is said that many able ministers were 
educated during Alison's time in the synod's school, and that 
two Dutch Reformed ministers, born in this country, were 
educated by him.* 

The synod also afforded aid to Samson Smith for his Bchool 

at Oheetnul Level, and procured him a yearly donation from 
the British Society for Educating German Children in Penn- 
sylvania. 

Thus, their efforts resulted in no great permanent institu- 
tion. The well-devised scheme <<\' making Alison a Bnbordi- 



I (if these wan the Rot. Jonathan Dubois, of Boatbamptoat Bucks count;-, 
Ivania, a natire of I'iloxgrove, New Jersey. 
17 



258 Webster's history of the 

nate instructor in the college of Philadelphia enlisted the Old 
Side in the support of that institution, and drew them off for 
many years from attempting to erect a college of their own. 

The Presbytery of New York was probably mainly induced 
to press the forming of a new synod, in order to found a semi- 
nary of learning on an equal scale with those of New England. 
The stand in regard to the Revival taken by Harvard and 
Yale seemed to render this necessary, and had probably led 
to an attempt to establish a school at New London.* Although 
this effort was unsuccessful, still, the causes in which it had its 
origin remained in full force. The obstinate refusalf of the 
authorities of Yale to admit Brainerd to his degree, after his 
humble submission, and in disregard of the personal repeated 
earnest solicitation of Dickinson, Pierson, Burr, and Edwards, 
satisfied them that it was time to arise and build a seminary, 
suited to the times, to be under the influence of those who 
saw a glorious work of God's grace in the appearances con- 
temptuously designated " a religious stir." A charter, to incor- 
porate sundry persons to found a college, passed the great seal 
of the province, tested by James Hamilton, Esq., President 
of his Majesty's Council in New Jersey. This charter the 
trustees refused to accept, Tennent strenuously objecting to 
the clause constituting the governor of the province, ex-oflicio, 
a trustee. The college, however, was commenced at Elizabeth- 
town: the newspapers, in April, 1747, advertise that, on the 
fourth week in May, all persons suitably qualified may be ad- 
mitted as students. On the death of Dickinson, in October 
of that year, it was removed to Newark, and placed under the 
presidency of Burr. Whitefield wrote to Pemberton, Novem- 
ber 21, 1748, urging him to come to England, with one of the 
converted Indians, in behalf of the college. 

Governor Belcher! had from time to time, by letters, intro- 



* "That thing called the Shepherd's Tent" had heen set up by Rev. Timothy 
Allen, at New London, to educate "gracious youths;" but the Connecticut Legisla- 
ture, in 1742, made it penal for private or unknown persons to conduct such semi- 
naries, and ordained that none should be admitted to the privileges of the ministry 
of the standing order, without a diploma from Britain, Yale, or Harvard. The 
tent was shifted to the Narragansetts, and soon given up. 

f Dr. Alexander's Log College. 

X Life and Times of Lady Huntingdon. 



PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH IN AMERICA. '259 

duced the college to the notice of Lady Huntingdon ; Whiter 
field had drawn her attention to it also. In the early part of 
1750, Mr. Allen, and Colonel Elisha Williams, of "Weathers- 
field, formerly Rector of Yale, came to England, with letters 
from Belcher and Burr. Whitefield introduced them to the 
countess, at her seat at Ashby. A statement of the intended 
plan and enlargement of the college was drawn; and by her 
adviee it was printed, with a recommendation signed by herself, 
Doddridge, and Whitefield. Several of the Dissenting minis- 
ter> promised their assistance. She was active in collecting 
considerable sums, and corresponded with many persons in its 
behalf in England and Seotland. Whitefield lost no opportu- 
nity nf recommending it to the attention of those who could 
effectually further the object He wrote, in May, 1750, to 
>h-( ulloeh, of Cainbuslang, '"concerning the Presbyterian col- 
. the Jerseys, the importance and extensive influence of 
which you have long been apprized of. Mr. Allen, a friend of 
(Governor Belcher's, is come over with a commission to nego- 
tiate tlii - matter; he hath brought with himacopy of the letter 
which Mr. Pemberton senl you some months past. This letter 
hath been shown to Dr. Doddridge and several of tin' Loudon 
ministers, who all approve of the thing and promise, their as- 
sistance. Last week I preached at Northampton, and conversed 
with 1 >r. 1 »oddridg«' about it. The scheme that was then judged 
most practicable was this: — that Mr. Penxberton's Letter should 
be published, and a recommendation of the affair, subscribed 
". Doddridge and otheog, should he annexed j that a sub- 
scription ami collections should 1"' set on toot in England, and 
that afterwards Mr. Alien should, go to Scotland. 1 think it 
an affair that requires despatch. Governor Belcher is phi, hut 
a ni".-t hearty man for promoting God's glory and the good of 
mankind. The spreading of the gospel in Maryland and Vir- 
ginia in a great measure depends upon it, and 1 wish them 
much success in the came of the Lard." Allen died in the 
summer of the gaol-feyer, which broke out in London, ami 
carried off four of the judges at the Old Bailey. 

In 1761, the synod met at Newark, at commencement, and, 
at the request of the trustees, sent Burr, Treat, W. Tennent, 
ami Davies, to New York, to obtain the consenl of hi.- congre- 
gation to his going. Pemberton had at the time no family ; 



260 WEBSTER'S HISTORY OF THE 

and though dimming, his colleague, was to remain, and the 
trustees offered to supply the pulpit, the people and Cumming 
unaccountably refused. In the winter of 1752, the trustees 
solicited Davies to go with Gilbert Tennent to Great Britain 
on this embassy. Whitefield wrote, June 8, 1753, " I am glad 
Mr. Tennent is coming Math Mr. Davies : if they come with 
their old fire, I trust they will be enabled to do wonders." 
The synod unanimously appointed them to this mission in 
October, and they arrived in London on Christmas day. The 
next day they saw Whitefield, and he gave them recommenda- 
tory letters to Scotland. In London they had remarkable suc- 
cess, and collected £1100, though they had not expected ,£300. 

Davies said,* April 7, 1754, "We have had most surprising 
success in our mission, which I cannot review without passion- 
ate emotions. Our friends in America cannot hear the news 
with the same surprise, as they do not know the difficultiesf 
we have had to encounter; to me it appears the most signal 
interposition of Providence I ever saw." September 2: "I 
think it an evidence of the remarkable interposition of Provi- 
dence in favour of the college, that, wherever I have stayed to 
make a collection, it has doubled what was ever raised before 
on a like occasion." 

Mr. Hogg, an eminent Christian merchant in Edinburgh, 
wrote to President Burr, August 28, 1755, "I have the satis- 
faction to acquaint you, that the collection ordered by the 
General Assembly amounts to above £1000; of which fifty 
pounds is from the Marquis of Lothian. The General Assem- 
bly, in May, renewed their appointment to all ministers who 
have not collected, to do so with all speed. The surprising ap- 
pearance of Providence, in giving Mr. Tennent and Mr. Davies 
such success, is indeed matter of great thankfulness and praise. 
"We would fain hope that it is a token for good that the Lord 
will make that seminary of learning eminently useful in send- 
ing forth labourers into his vineyard." 

* Diary, printed in Dr. Foote's Sketches of Virginia. 

■j- The Rev. Dr. George Benson did not sign the recommendation without a sneer 
at subscription to creeds. He wrote to Dr. Mayhew, April 17, 1754, " I have 
endeavoured to enlarge their notions of liberty and charity, which appear to me 
greatly confined. They are diligent and dextrous men, and have had great success." 
— Bradford's Life of Mayhew. 



PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH IN AMERICA. 261 

Tennent obtained £500 in Ireland. It was supposed by Hogg 
that the collections in Britain and Ireland would not be less 
than £4000 ; probably this did not embrace the whole amount 
collected. 

The moneys collected by them enabled the trustees to 
erect a commodious building and lay a foundation for a 
fund for the support of the necessary instructors. New Jersey 
and Connecticut* each allowed a lottery for the benefit of the 
eollege. 

Governor Belcher was ever ready to aid in the good work, 
and his patronage was needed to the latest moment of his 
life; for Burrf undoubtedly hastened his own end, by travel- 
ling when sick to meet the legislature and to urge them to 
repeal or not enact a clause recpuiring military duty of the 
■Indents. 

The growth of the college is said to have had a powerful 
influence on Yale, and to have hastened the appointment of a 
professor of divinity. 

The ostensible motive* of President ( 'lap. in urging this latter 
measure, was that the students of the college were required to 
attend the First Church in Xew Haven, and that neither the 
doctrines, language, nor manner of the pastor, Mr. Xoyes, 
were in any degree fitted to promote their orthodoxy or 
spirituality, or to fit them for the becoming discharge of the 
duties of the pulpit. In the Stiles Manuscripts it is charged 
that his real design was to keep up the character of the insti- 
tution for orthodoxy, and to prevent the Jersey College from 
drawing off students. (Map succeeded, it is said, by these 
considerations, in gaining a majority of votes and carrying his 
point Elliot, of Killingly, Noyesj of New Haven, and Bug- 
gies, of Guilford, protested against the measure. In Septem- 
ber, 1766, Naphtali Dagget, of SmithJtownj Long Island, one 
of ihe youngest members of the synod, was nominated to that 



■ advertisements. In March, 17".l, fieorgc S|>:ifT<.nl, Amlrrw !.'• •■ I, 
William Grant, John Bayre, A. ill/", William Henry, Hugh MoCnllougli 
Banmel n isard, manageri of the lottery granted by Connection! for the college, 
state Hut there nr.- eight thontand eight bondred and eighty-eight tickets, and 
three thonaand and eighty-eight priiea, 

Bmith'i pn I tee in inrVi sermoa on Belcher*! death, 
tilej MSB.— Tale Co ■ 



262 Webster's history of the 

high post. He exhibited to the trustees, November 21, a 
confession of his faith, declared his full and explicit consent 
to all the doctrines contained in our Catechisms and Confes- 
sion, and expressly renounced the prevailing errors of the 
times. He was inaugurated March 4, 1756. 

In the following year there were revivals at Yale and at 
Nassau Hall: the latter institution experienced the largest 
refreshing.* Davies tells us that it began with the son of a 
considerable gentleman in New York, and was general before 
the president knew of it. 

The first appearance of it caused much opposition and mis- 
representation. " This religious! concern was not begun by 
the ordinary means of preaching, or promoted by any alarm- 
ing methods ; yet some were ready to sink under its weight. 
It spread like the increasing light of the morning. A wise 
and gracious Providence had brought about a concurrence of 
different incidents, which tended to lead the students to 
thoughtfulness about their souls. These things, viewed in 
connection, manifested the finger of God; the freeness of 
whose grace appears by considering that, a little before this 
merciful visitation, some of the youth had given a looser rein 
to their corruptions than was common among them. A spirit 
of pride and contention prevailed, to the great grief and almost 
discouragement of the worthy president." 

Burr! wrote to Edwards, February 12, 1757 :— " As I have 
had more fatigue, so I have had more comfort in my little 
society this winter than ever. There has been more of a reli- 
gious concern than I have ever known : some of the most 
careless and thoughtless are considerably reformed, and others 
solemnly concerned." February 14: "Half the students join 
in the society. Much old experience has taught me to judge 
of these things more by their fruits than by any accounts 
of experience for a short season." February 22 : "I never saw 
any thing in the late revival that more evidently discovered 
the hand of God. Mr. Spencer says the same. Certainly a 



* Bacon's Historical Discourses. — Connecticut Evangelical Magazine. 
f Gilbert Tennent's preface to his Sermons on Important Subjects. 
% Gillies. Obadiah Wells, of New York, to Bellamy, March 19, 11 
Fourteen have been converted in the senior class." 



PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH IX AMERICA. 263 

great and glorious work is going on. For nearly a month, a 
religious concern has been universal, not one student ex- 
pepted. When it began, I called such as were hopefully 
pious, and laid before them what I thought had obstructed 
the work of God heretofore. Their conduct has been very 
prudent. Mr. William Tennent agreed as to the method 
panned, and has been very helpful by private applications." 
March: k- I never observed conviction of sin so rational, 
solemn, and thorough." 

Thus wrote Tennent, of Freehold,* to Samuel Fiuley, and 
he sent the glad tidings to Davies : — " I went to the college 
la-t M< unlay, and .saw a memorable display of God's power 
and grace in the conviction of sinners. The whole house was 
a Bochim. A sense of God's holiness was so impressed on 
the hearts of its inhabitants, that all of them, excepting two, 
med religious,) were greatly shaken as to the state of 
their BOUls. This gracious ray reached the Latin School, and 
much affected the master and a number of the scholars. Nor 
i confined to the students: some others were likewise 
awakened. 

"I conversed with all the present members of the college, 
excepting one, who generally inquired, with solicitude, what 

they should do to be saved; nor did I ever see any in that 
case, who had more clear views of God and themselves, or 
more genuine sorrow for Bin and longing for Jesus* This 

ed work of the Most High so far exceeded all my ex- 
pectations, that I was lost in surprise and constrained to say. 
1- it sol Can it he BO? Nor was my being eye and ear wit- 
from Monday till Friday, able to reeover lne from lny 

astonishment 1 fell as the apostles when it Was told them 

the Lord had risen. They could not believe, through tear 

real joy. 
■•My reverend brethren and myself were ( as those that 

dream. ' There was little or nothing of the passions in the, 

preachers during their public performances, Dior any public 

discourses during the hours allotted for study; only, at morn* 

. ad evening pi me plain and brief directiona 



Pl Dt«d in the Log CoDegt, fr-m the oripn.'il in the h.uil- of Pi 

m. 



264 Webster's history of the 

suitable for persons under spiritual trouble were delivered. 
Before I came away, several persons received something like 
the gift of the spirit of adoption, being tenderly affected with 
a sense of redeeming love, and thereby determined to endea- 
vour after universal holiness. 

"I cannot fully represent this glorious work. It will bear 
your most enlarged apprehensions of a day of grace. Let God 
have all the glory ! It was indeed as a tree of life to my soul. 
Yea, it is still to me as if I had seen the face of God." 

In March, Gilbert Tennent* was informed of an extra- 
ordinary appearance of the divine power and presence there, 
and requested to come and see. "With this kind motion 
I gladly complied ; and, having been there some time, had all 
the evidence of the reality of the aforesaid report that could 
be in reason desired." 

Daviesf was informed by some of the students, that the 
son of a very considerable gentleman in New York, being 
sick at the college, was awakened to a sense of his guilt. His 
discourse made an impression on some, and they on others, so 
that it was general before the worthy president knew any 
thing of it. Misrepresentations were sent abroad, and some 
took away their sons ; but most were sent back. As early as 
June, two or three had been drawn by wicked companions 
into their former evil habits. He learned from Mr. Duffield, 
a young minister, that there was a pretty general awakening 
among the young throughout the Jerseys. 

Of the four classes then in the college, twenty students 
became ministers of our church. 

Two days before the commencement in that year, President 
Burr died. His father-in-law, Jonathan Edwards, was imme- 
diately called to succeed him; but he died of smallpox, 
March 22, 1758. 

"An earthquakej spread a tremour through a great part 
of our continent on that melancholy day. How much more 
did Nassau Hall tremble when this pillar fell !" His cha- 
racter has been drawn by many friends. Br. Cutler,§ Church 
missionary at Boston, said of him, " I have known the man. 



* Preface to Sermons on Important Subjects. j- Gillies. 

J Davies's Diary. § Albany Documents. 



PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH IX AMERICA. 265 

Of much sobriety aud gravity, and more decent in his lan- 
guage than Mayhew or Prince ; hut odd in his principles, 
haughty, stilt", and morose. There are not less than one 
hundred subscribers from Scotland to his book." (August 
28, 1754.) 

Gilbert Tennent, in the Philadelphia papers, April 6, 1758, 
expressed his high sense of Edwards's excellencies: — "There 
v\a- b great culm in his soul at his exit." After leaving 
messages with Mrs. Burr for his wife and children, who Mere 
absent, "he looked about, and said, 'Now where is Jesus of 
Nazareth, my true and never-failing Friend ;' and so he fell 
asleep and went to that Lord he loved." 

In 17'J2, " sixteen popular students," as Whitefield expresses 
it, were converted, soon after the induction of Samuel Finley 
to tbe presidency. The revival* began in the freshman class, 
spread through the college, and widely refreshed the sur- 
rounding country. Of the lour classes, twenty-live entered 
the ministry of our church ; fifty of the students are said to 
have united with the church. 

Four short years were not gone, before Finley passed from 
earth; but God, who had so graciously supplied each former 
loss, again displayed his kindness in sending Witherspoou, 
and preserving him to be its venerated head for a quarter of a 
century. 

Before noticing any of the results which flowed from the 
union of the synods, it is desirable that the "plan" or basis 
on which these bodies event ually were incorporated should be 
given in full. It will be found in the "Kecords"! of the first 

meeting of the Synod of New Fork and Philadelphia, which 
assembled at Philadelphia, May 22, 1758. Observations on 
the oonseouencee of Its adoption will follow in a subsequent 

chapter. 

This document is as follows: — 

k -The plan of anion agreed upon between the Synods of 
New Fork and Philadelphia, a1 their meeting at Philadelphia, 
M... 29, 1768. 

u The Synods of New Fork and Philadelphia) taking into 

• i>r. Woo i i. oil. of Freehold: printed Id Bohenok'a Eistorioal Dutoonrie at 
Princeton. 

rda of the Presbyterian Church i" Amefioa, pp 



266 Webster's history of the 

serious consideration the present divided state of the Presby 
terian church in this land, and being deeply sensible, that the 
division of the church tends to weaken its interests, to dis- 
honour religion, and consequently its glorious Author; to 
render government and discipline ineffectual, and, finally, to 
dissolve its very frame; and, being desirous to pursue such 
measures as may most tend to the glory of God and the 
establishment and edification of his people, do judge it to be 
our indispensable duty to study the things that make for 
peace, and to endeavour the healing of that breach which has 
for some time subsisted amongst us, that so its hurtful conse- 
quences may not extend to posterity ; that all occasion of 
reproach upon our society may be removed, and that we may 
carry on the great designs of religion to better advantage than 
we can do in a divided state ; and since both synods continue 
to profess the same principles of faith, and adhere to the same 
form of worship, government, and discipline, there is the 
greater reason to endeavour the compromising those differences, 
which were agitated many years ago with too great warmth 
and animosity, and unite in one body. 

"For which end, and that no jealousies or grounds of 
alienation may remain, and also to prevent future breaches 
of like nature, we agree to unite and do unite in one body, 
under the name of the Synod of New York and Philadelphia, 
on the following plan. 

" I. Both synods having always approved and received the 
Westminster Confession of Faith, and Larger and Shorter 
Catechisms, as an orthodox and excellent system of Christian 
doctrine, founded on the word of God, we do still receive the 
same as the confession of our faith, and also adhere to the 
plan of worship, government, and discipline, contained in the 
Westminster Directory, strictly enjoining it on all our mem- 
bers and probationers for the ministry, that they preach and 
teach according to the form of sound words in said Confes- 
sion and Catechisms, and avoid and oppose all errors contrary 
thereto. 

"II. That when any matter is determined by a major vote, 
every member shall either actively concur with or passively 
submit to such determination ; or, if his conscience permit 
him to do neither, he shall, after sufficient liberty modestly 



PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH IN AMERICA. 267 

to reason and remonstrate, peaceably withdraw from our com- 
munion, without attempting to make an}- schism. Provided 
always, that this shall he understood to extend only to such 
determinations as the body shall judge indispensable in doc- 
trine or Presbyterian government. 

"HE. That any member or members, for the exoneration 
of his or their conscience before God, have a right to protest 
against any act or procedure of our highest judicature, because 
there is no further appeal to another for redress ; and to require 
that such protestation be recorded in their minutes. And, as 
such a protest is a solemn appeal from the bar of said judi- 
cature, no member is liable to prosecution on the account 
of his protesting. Provided always, that it shall be deemed 
Irregular and unlawful, to enter a protestation against any 
member or members, or to protest facts or accusations instead 
of proving theni. unh-ss a fair trial be refused, even by the 
highest judicature. And it is agreed, that protestations are 
only to be entered against the public acts, judgments, or 
determinations of the judicature with which the protester's 
conscience is offended. 

"IV. As the protestation entered in the Synod of Phila- 
delphia, armo Domino 1741, has been apprehended to have 
I.--. 11 approved and received by an act of said synod, and on 
thai aooount was judged a sufficient obstacle to a union ; the 
said 9ynod declare that they never judicially adopted the said 
protestation, nor do account it a synodieal act, but that it is to 
1m- eonsidereti as Che act of those only who subscribed it; and 
therefore cannot in its nature be a valid objection to the union 
of the two synods, especially considering that a very great 
majority of both lynods hare become members since the said 
pi.. t. --ration was entered. 

•• V. That it shall be esteemed and treated as a censurable 
evil, to accuse any member of heterodoxy* insufficiency, or 

immorality, in B calumniating manimr, or otherwise; than by 

private brotherly admonition, or by a regular process accord* 

ing to on* known rules of judicial trial in cases of scandal. 

And it shall he considered m the same view, if any presbytery 

appoint supplies within the bounds of another presb} t.-ry 

without their concurrence; or if any member officiate in 
another's congregation, without asking and obtaining his 



268 Webster's history of the 

consent, or the session's in case the minister be absent ; yet 
it shall be esteemed unbrotherly for any one, in ordinary 
circumstances, to refuse his consent to a regular member 
when it is requested. 

" VI. That no presbytery shall license or ordain to the work 
of the ministry any candidate, until he give them competent 
satisfaction as to his learning, and experimental acquaintance 
with religion, and skill in divinity and cases of conscience ; 
and declare his acceptance of the Westminster Confession 
and Catechisms as the confession of his faith, and promise 
subjection to the Presbyterian plan of government in the 
Westminster Directory. 

"VII. The synods declare it is their earnest desire, that a 
complete union may be obtained as soon as possible, and 
agree that the united synod shall model the several presby- 
teries in such manner as shall appear to them most expedient. 
Provided nevertheless, that presbyteries, where an alteration 
does not appear to be for edification, continue in their pre- 
sent form. As to divided congregations, it is agreed that 
such as have settled ministers on both sides be allowed to 
continue as they are ; that where those of one side have a 
settled minister, the other, being vacant, may join with the 
settled minister, if a majority choose so to do ; that, when 
both sides are vacant, they shall be at liberty to unite 
together. 

" VIII. As the late religious appearances occasioned much 
speculation and debate, the members of the New York Synod, 
in order to prevent any misapprehensions, declare their ad- 
herence to their former sentiments in favour of them, — that a 
blessed work of God's holy Spirit in the conversion of numbers 
was then carried on ; and, for the satisfaction of all concerned, 
this united synod agree in declaring that, as all mankind are 
naturally dead in trespasses and sins, an entire change of heart 
and life is necessary to make them meet for the service and 
enjoyment of God ; that such a change can be only effected 
by the powerful operations of the Divine Spirit ; that when 
sinners are made sensible of their lost condition and abso- 
lute inability to recover themselves, are enlightened in the 
knowledge of Christ and convinced of his ability and willing- 
ness to save, and upon gospel encouragements do choose him 



PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH IX AMERICA. 269 

for their Saviour, and, renouncing their own righteousness 
in point of merit, depend upon his imputed righteousness 
for their justification before God, and on his wisdom and 
strength for guidance and support. "When upon these appre- 
hensions and exercises their souls are comforted, notwith- 
standing all their past guilt, and rejoice in God through 

a Christ, — when they hate and bewail their sins of heart 
and life, delight in the laws of God, without exception, reve- 
rently and diligently attend his ordinances, become humble 
and self-denied, and make it the business of their lives to 
please and glorify God and to do good to their fellow men, — 
this is to be acknowledged as a gracious work of God, even 
though it should be attended with unusual bodily commo- 
tions or some more exceptionable circumstances, by means 
of infirmity, temptations, or remaining corruptions; and, 
wherever religious appearances are attended with the good 

tfi above mentioned, we desire to rejoice in and thank 
( k>d for them. 

"But, on the other hand, when persons seeming to be 
under a religious concern, imagine that they have visions of 
the human nature of Jesus Christ, or hear voices, or see ex- 
ternal lights, or have fainting and convulsion-like fits, and on 
the account of these judge themselves to be truly converted, 

Ji they have not the scriptural characters of a work of 
God above described, we believe such persons are under a 
dangerous delusion. And we testify our utter disapprobation 
of such a delusion, wherever it attends any religious appear- 
Bnces, ID any church or time. 

• Now, as both synods are agreed in their sentiments con- 
cerning the nature of a work of grace, and declare their 
desire and purpose to promote it, different judgments re- 
specting particular matters of fact ought not to prevent their 
union; especially as many of the present members have 
entered into the ministry since the time of the aforesaid 
religious appearances. 

••!']. on the whole, :i s the design of our union fa the ad- 
vancement of the Mediator's kingdom, and as the wise and 
faithful discharge of the ministerial function is the principal 
appointed mean for that glorious end, we judge thai this is a 
proper occasion to manifest our sincere intention unitedly to 



270 Webster's history of the 

exert ourselves to fulfil the ministry we have received of the 
Lord Jesus. Accordingly, we unanimously declare our se- 
rious and fixed resolution, bj T divine aid, to take heed to our- 
selves, that our hearts be upright, our discourse edifying, and 
our lives exemplary for purity and godliness ; to take heed to 
our doctrine, that it be not only orthodox, but evangelical and 
spiritual, tending to awaken the secure to a suitable concern 
for their salvation, and to instruct and encourage sincere 
Christians, thus commending ourselves to every man's con- 
science in the sight of God ; to cultivate peace and harmony 
among ourselves, and strengthen each other's hands in pro- 
moting the knowledge of divine truth and diffusing the savour 
of piety among our people. 

" Finally, we earnestly recommend it to all under our care, 
that, instead of indulging a contentious disposition, they 
would love each other with a pure heart, fervently, as brethren 
who profess subjection to the same Lord, adhere to the same 
faith, worship, and government, and entertain the same hope 
of glory. And we desire that they would improve the present 
union for their mutual edification, combine to strengthen the 
common interests of religion, and go hand in hand in the path 
of life ; which we pray the God of all grace would please to 
effect, for Christ's sake. Amen. 

"The synod agree, that all former differences and disputes 
are laid aside and buried ; and that no future inquiry or vote 
shall be proposed in this synod concerning these things ; but 
if any member seek a synodical inquiry or declaration about 
any of the matters of our past differences, it shall be deemed 
a censurable breach of this agreement, and be refused, and he 
be rebuked accordingly." 



PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH IN AMERICA. 271 



CHAPTER X. 

This noble declaration* is for our church, what the Decla- 
ration of Independence is for our country. It is a promul- 
gation of first principles, — a setting forth of our faith, order, 
and religion, as an answer to those who question us. It is the 
foundation of our ecclesiastical compact, the bond of our 
union. It is with grateful exultation, that we read, that this 
declaration was unanimously adopted, — that every member 
of the united synod set his hand to this testimony in behalf 
Of truth, order, and evangelical religion. 

Every occasion of contention was shut out but two: one of 
tkexn — the remodelling of the presbyteries — had been forced 
in by the astonishing pertinacity of the Old Side. The other 
— the examining of candidates for the ministry, touching the 
saving operations of the Holy Spirit on their hearts — was 
l.d by both sides as a necessary duty ; hut, as to the way 
in which the examination should be made, they differed 
totally. 

Th.rc were many circumstances steadily concurring to 
produce on these points alienation of feeling, and to make the 
union merely nominal. Like the trickling of drop on drop in 
the Blight crevice* of the anvil or the oarrow fissure in the dill', 
—of little moment till the freezing air distends them and the 
fcron IS bnnl in Blinder, and 'he mountain shakes, and the 

forest crashes beneath the falling fragments of the rifted rock, 

— so what, in the genial atmosphere of < 'hri.-tian all'ection and 
brotherly IdndneSS, would have distilled and exhaled unper- 

ceive.i ami harmless, became, in the polar temperature ^\' 
declining piety, mighty to -hake and shiver the fabric and 

foundation. 

* Dr. Hodge. 



272 Webster's history of the 

The Synod of New York had the immense advantage in 
almost every particular. It was superior in numbers : its 
members were in the flower of their age, largely endowed 
with talent, occupying all the conspicuous places and com- 
manding posts; they were of high character for public spirit, 
worth, and piety. Their zeal prompted them to undertake 
important enterprises, and to sustain them vigorously till 
crowned with success. They had also large and growing con- 
gregations, and they were seconded in their labours by an 
able band of elders, and a goodly company of prayerful 
parents. There was a vital energy in their ministrations. 
If their sermons were bare of ornament as skeletons, they 
were compacted together with the joints and bands of doc- 
trines, precepts, and promises. Though very dry to the 
cursory inspection of the caviller and the trifler, yet, like 
the dead bones of Elisha, they gave life even to the dead. 
The increase of candidates of an excellent spirit, adorned 
with appropriate gifts for the ministry, was a cheering token 
that He who ascended on high had accepted their works. 

They had also a college, with a liberal charter, in a degree 
endowed, well officered, with a high and increasing repu- 
tation, under- pious influence, and visited with times of 
refreshing from the presence of the Lord. 

The Synod of Philadelphia, stationary for seventeen years 
in numbers, with few young men of distinguished promise, 
with congregations mostly in obscure places and not remark- 
able for size, liberality, or zeal, with no charter for their 
school at Newark, were under the necessity of placing their 
candidates* in an institution largely under the benumbing 
influence of a paralyzing Arminianism. On the other hand, 
the Old Side had more of the bearing and courtesy of the 
higher circles, and were too ready to notice the deficien- 
cies of men whose thoughts had not been turned to the 
ministry till they had been disciplined to handicrafts and 



* Of these, several went to England for orders, as William Thompson, son 
of Rev. Samuel Thompson, of Pennsboro' : William Edmeston, Rector of St. 
Thomas, in Frederick county, Maryland; Samuel Magaw, Rector of St. Paul's, 
Philadelphia ; and Francis Wilson, from the Forks of Delaware, and brother-in- 
law of McHenry, of Deep Run ; and Matthew Tate, son of Rev. Joseph Tate, 
of Donegal, who also conformed. 



PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH IN AMERICA. 273 

tillage. Their haughtiness was not unnoticed by their 
hearers; and the synod and the presbyteries had cause to 
lament the insulting arrogance they used in bringing appeals 
to their bar. 

The New Side were men of like passions with others. 
They were not blind to the contrast between them and 
their old antagonists. They repaid slights and coolness, by 
exercising, as a majority, their power over their brethren, 
after the manner of conquerors towards a restive but helpless 
nation. 

At the union, the three Old-Side ministers in Virginia were 
not present; and, without being consulted, they were separated 
from Donegal Presbytery and annexed to Hanover Presbytery. 
All the members of the latter body lived east of the Blue Ridge, 
except Brown, of Timber-riclge. They all three attended the 
synod in 1759, and requested to be erected into a separate pres- 
bytery, which Bhould embrace also Brown and Hoge, of Ope- 
qnhon. It was a most reasonable request; for, even in our day, 
mofet ministers would think it a requisition equivalent to 
debarment from presbyterial privileges, if they were obliged 
to go from Augusta, or Rockingham, to Hanover, and Louisa, 
twice in a year. The brethren on the peninsula of the Chesa- 
peake had been favoured with a separate organization, al- 
though they were only five in number, and could as easily 
i presbytery in Chester or Newcastle counties, after the 
union, ae before. The territory embraced in Lewes Presbytery 
famished few openings for new congregations, and its declin- 
ing vacancies offered small inducement to probationers to 
settle; while the Valley of Virginia was rapidly filling up with 
a Presbyterian population, and its new congregations and its 
older vacancies drew all the neighbouring eyes. The five 
brethren in the Valley had pastoral charges; two of those in 

the peninsula were only BOJOUmerS for a few year-. The others 

might without inconvenience have been lefl in connection with 
Newcastle Presbytery; but it would have been fin- more for 
the accommodation of those in Western Virginia to have re- 
mained with Donegal Presbytery^han to have been unequally 

1 with the distant mini-ters <^nst of the mountains. The 

majority of the synod refused their request There were three 
New-Side men in Lewes Presbytery to two Old-Side; hut, 

1H 



274 WEBSTER'S HISTORY OP THE 

in the new one asked for, the Old Side had a majority of 
one. 

At the union, no attempt was made to remodel the Old-Side 
Presbyteries of [Newcastle and Donegal and the New-Side 
Presbytery of Newcastle, which embraced ministers and con- 
gregations in the bounds of both. They were left as they 
were for one year. In 1759, Donegal Presbytery was absent. 
If they hoped, by not attending, to secure a continuance of the 
existing state, they were disappointed ; for the synod directed 
the two presbyteries of Newcastle to confer, and, upon their 
report, it was ordered that three New-Side men, Robert Smith, 
Roan, and Hoge, with one Old-Side man, Samson Smith, should 
be one body. The Presbytery of Newcastle then consisted of 
four of the Old Side, Boyd, McDowell, Hector Alison, and 
McKennan ; and of eight of the New Side, Blair, Samuel and 
James Finley, Charles Tennent, Rodgers, Bay, and Sterling. 
In no instance does any unkind feeling seem to have arisen 
from the collision of the two parties. Donegal Presbytery 
stood seven of the Old Side, Thomson, Elder, Zanchy, Steel, 
Tate, McMordie, and S. Smith, to three New Side, R. Smith, 
Roan, and Hoge. The last rarely attended any meetings, and 
added nothing but his name to the minority. It is worthy of 
notice that at this time Duffield was settled in Carlisle, but he 
was left in Newcastle Presbytery. The synod, on being asked 
whether the congregations of Steel and Duffield should build 
each a meeting-house in that town, were grieved that there 
should still be such a spirit of animosity, and, far from encou- 
raging any steps to perpetuate a divided state, enjoined both 
ministers to unite their counsels and use their influence to 
bring about a cordial agreement between the congregations, 
that a plan may be laid for building a house in common. 
They built together in the following year. Duffield, soon after 
the new-modelling, agreed to join Donegal Presbytery, though 
not without apprehensions of unpleasant consequences. He 
wrote a letter to his uncle, Mr. Blair, in which he expressed 
himself freely, and censured Steel for having underhandedly 
and hastily obtained his call to Carlisle. This letter fell into 
Steel's hands ; whether befWe or after it reached its destination, 
does not appear. This greatly embittered them, and came 
before the presbytery, and the letter was put upon the record. 



PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH IX AMERICA. 275 

The presbytery, in 17G2, differed seriously in the trial of 
Samson Smith. The majority rejected the evidence of several 
witnesses, as being incompetent to give legal testimony: by 
their exclusion, the prosecution could not be sustained, and he- 
was cleared. The rejected witnesses appealed to the synod, as 
did also one of the minority of the presbytery; and a highly- 
stable committee, embracing a fair proportion of both 
parties, was appointed to go on the ground and hear the whole 
They rejected one witness which the presbytery had 
refused, and admitted another rejected witness to testify. The 
synod approved of the admission of the latter, and by a great 
majority disapproved of the rejection of the other: ten mem- 
bers declared themselves not clear to join in this disapproval. 
Ewing protested very learnedly against the admission of the 
witnesses, and declared that it would be criminal for him to 
pay any regard or submission to any sentence passed by a judi- 
cature on Buch evidence. The synod replied, that they had 
only determined that, for any thing the presbytery or com- 
mittee had offered, both the witnesses ought to be admitted to 
The committee was reappointed, to meet at Little 
Britain, with full powers to hear and determine. 

But new causes of difficulty had arisen. The presbytery had 
licensed William Edmeston, although K. Smith, Roan, and 
Duffield declared themselves unsatisfied with the declaration 
of hi- religions experience. Roan appealed, and the matter 
was left to tin- same committee. 

There was a third appeal. Duffield had objected to the 

right of Steel's eld* r to -it in presbytery, because he had not 

ordained. The presbytery overruled the objection, and 

Roan and Duffield appealed. This matter was deferred by the 

synod tor several years. 

The Old-Side congregation of \\Y-t Nottingham petitioned 
to be transferred from Newcastle to Donegal Presbytery, and 
the granting of this request gave the majority an opportunity 
to strengthen the New-Side interest in that body. They 
granted the petition, and annexed also the New-Side church 
of West Nottingham, Strain and his congregations, Chanceford 
and Slate Ridge, and Hum and his congregation, Little 
Britain. 

In lT'U, all the Second Presbytery of Philadelphia waa ah- 



276 Webster's history of the 

sent, and all of Donegal Presbytery but Robert Smith and 
Hunt. In 1765, Robert and Samson Smith, and Tate, attended. 
The appeal was decided respecting the ordination of the elders, 
and the judgment of the presbytery was affirmed. They were 
to be received as elders, because they had been elected by the 
people, who had acquiesced in their appointment, though they 
had never explicitly consented in the faafe of the congregation 
to undertake the office. The presbytery and the synod agreed 
in judging that it would be for the peace and edification of the 
church to have a public declaration of consent made in every 
instance of accepting the eldership. 

The Second Congregation of West Nottingham (New Side) 
made a representation of the creeks and rivers to be crossed 
in order to meet with Donegal Presbytery, and was reannexed 
to Newcastle Presbyter}^. The majority of Donegal Presbytery 
asked to be divided, or to have the members added of late 
years, ordered to return whence they had been taken. This 
led to a remodelling, obviously with a sole view to the prepon- 
derance of the New Side. They dissolved the old presbytery, 
and added Bay, of Deer Creek, to those on the west side of the 
Susquehanna, and formed them into Carlisle Presbytery, thus 
throwing Samuel Thomson and Steel into connection with 
Duffield, Bay, Strain, and Hoge. By an equally arbitrary, un- 
called-for, and preposterous measure, all the members east of 
the Susquehanna were formed, with Newcastle Presbytery, into 
a body called Lancaster Presbytery. Beard, who had been 
installed over the First Church in West Nottingham, joined the 
six others of the Old Side, in declaring that this arrangement 
gave them no relief, while their rights were infringed by being 
distributed, unconsulted and unwilling, at the pleasure of the 
synod. This had no effect ; and a hope was expressed, that in 
new connections, the prejudices and animosity might subside 
and wear off. McDowell and Ewing dissented, and entered 
their reasons, apprehending that the act was contrary to the 
engagement at the union, that the remodelling of the pres- 
byteries should be only for edification, and not for destruc- 
tion. 

In 1766, the great majority of the synod refused to rescind 
the minute of the last year, except so far as continuing Carlisle 
Presbytery. The effect of this would have been to restore 



PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH IN AMERICA. 277 

Newcastle Presbytery to existence, and to revive Donegal Pres- 
bytery, with the Susquehanna for its western bound. 

A like fate awaited the proposal to revive Donegal Presby- 
tery and leave Carlisle untouched, and also the plan to annex 
the members of Donegal Presbytery to the Second Philadelphia 
Presbytery t'< >r i >ne year. Matthew Wilson, Ewing, Patrick and 
Francis Alison protested against these refusals, since only the 
exchanging a member or two in two presbyteries would have 
prevented the breach. Tate and Beard then declined the juris- 
diction of the synod, declaring themselves members of Done- 
gal Presbytery and of the Synod of Philadelphia, as it existed 
before the union. The venerable Richard Treat, the oldest 
member of the synod except Pierson and Cross, proposed — and 
the Bynod agreed — that all should be as it was before erecting 
Carlisle and Lancaster Presbyteries. This, however, was no 
improvement of the affair; for the New Side had gained Robert 
I ••!•, at Middle Spring, and Slemons, at Marsh Creek, and 
irse had a stronger majority than before. They met and 
constituted; but the seven dissatisfied brethren formed them- 
Belves into a separate Presbytery of Donegal, and ordained 
Lang, at West Conococheague. They addressed the synod; 
but qo notice was taken of their letter further than to record, 
that, having adopted the leclinatnre of Beard and Tate, they 
ar<- no longer members of this body. On hearing the paper a 
second time, they appointed a committee to converse with 
them, and bring in an overture. They proposed to erect the 
members of 1 Donegal Presb} tery, east of Susquehanna, together 
with Steel, with the old Dame, and to revive Carlisle Presby- 
tery, and add Roan, Thomson, and Lang. This was rejected, 
and the dissatisfied brethren were assured that any reasonable 
proposals would be beard on their withdrawing the declinature. 
Robert Smith asked and obtained leave to join Newcastle 
Presbytery; and Roan dropped his appeal in the case of Ed- 
meston, on condition it Bhould be recorded, that he did not 
acquiesce in the judgment In 17^. Tate proposed to with- 
draw the declinature, if the synod would annex Samson Smith 
and Beard to Newcastle Presbytery; Samuel Thomson and 
Lang to Donegal; and Tate, Steel, Elder, and McMordie, to 

the See,, ||d | *lv - I , \\ ,• ,-y , , f | ' | , \ | ;, , | ,• | J,|, j a . The s\!l"d ;„■,■,•■ | , m I 

Strain protesting that this was erecting a monument 



278 Webster's histoet of the 

of the former division, and would have the same effect as a 
rupture of the union, and would obstruct the success of the 
gospel ; that it was sacrificing the peace of the church, and in a 
measure the success of the gospel, to appease the wrath of a few, 
and that it opened the door for unrestrained passion to demand 
of the body whatever satisfaction a party might please. Eoan, 
Dufheld, Cooper, and Slemons protested that bad temper and 
want of brotherly love were the only motives the dissatisfied 
brethren had to urge; that they had made heavy charges 
against their co-presbyters and the synod, and had been zeal- 
ously engaged in promoting schism ; that to grant their request 
was to admit their charges and justify their practice, and espe- 
cially to strengthen a presbytery* which, in the judgment of 
many of the synod, ought not to be allowed an existence. 
They protested against it as covering offenders from discipline, 
furnishing a pernicious precedent, and leading to a waste of 
precious time, which might be better employed than in a jour- 
ney of one hundred miles to attend presbytery. 

The Presbytery of Philadelphia tested, immediately after 
the union, the sense in which Article VI. of the Plan of Union 
was to be understood, — viz.: "Every candidate, before being 
licensed, shall give competent satisfaction as to his experimental 
acquaintance with religion." John*Beard, a graduate of Nas- 
sau Hall, had been before Newcastle Presbytery as a candidate, 
and, without dismission or recommendation, applied to Phila- 
delphia Presbytery, October 23, 1759, and Was directed to visit 
the members of presbytery at their houses, and give them op- 
portunity of knowing his religious views and spiritual state. 
This was reviving a rule that had been adopted in 1735, enact- 
ing, "That no student be received to enter on trials in order to 
his licensing to preach, until he shall repair unto the dwellings 
or lodgings of at least most of the ministers of the presby- 
tery, and thereby give them an opportunity to take a view of 
his parts and behaviour." In May, they examined him, and 
professed themselves satisfied with every thing except what 
related to a work of grace on the soul. They proceeded to 
license him in August, 1760. 

In May, 1760, Magaw offered himself to the presbytery, and 

* The Second Presbytery of Philadelphia. 



PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH IN AMERICA. 2(9 

they resolved, that they were bound to improve no candidate, 
until he had visited the ministers, that they might personally 
Inspect into his experience. The presbytery heard his declara- 
tion of experience at a subsequent meeting, and deferred a judg- 
ment on it. In August, 17i.il, they debated the question whether 
his former declaration of experience was satisfactory. Four 
ministers were satisfied, — Cross, Alison, Simonton, andEwing; 
seven were not, — Tennent, Treat, Hunter, Lawrence,Greenmaii, 
Ramsey, and Chesnut. Magaw,* willing to give them all the 
satisfaction in his power, offered to converse with them, that 
they might further inspect into his state. The conversation af- 
forded them no additional light. The question was then taken 
on proceeding to license, and five elders and four ministers gave 
their voices in the affirmative, so that, by a majority of two, the 
matter was settled. The elders were Philip Wynkoop, of 
Abingdon, George Bryan, of the First Church, and Gunning 
Bedford, of the Second Church in Philadelphia, M.Dubois, of 
Pittsgrove, and John Cloyd, of Great Valley. The seven 
ministers protested, but did not wish thereby to hinder the 
majority from admitting Magaw to preach as a probationer. 
Thrv unanimously approved his sermon. 

The application of Beard to the Presbytery of Phila- 
delphia, after having left the Newcastle Presbytery without 
being dismissed from that body, led to the proposal to 
the synod in 1760 of this query, — viz.: Whether our stu- 
dents, bred in our colleges, have not a right to apply to 
any of our presbyteries for improvement for the sacred 
work <>!' tin- ministry! and whether they ought not to be re- 
ceived on Bufficienl recommendations? It was not answered 

till L764, and then as follows: — Any Student of divinity has 

a righl to Btudy for his improvement under any approved 
divine in the synod; but when he enters on trials, he shall 
come under the care of the presbytery in whose bounds he 

n brought up, has mostly lived, and is best known; and 

if, tor convenience, he desires to come under some other pres- 
bytery, nothing Less shall be esteemed a sufficient recom- 
mendation but a testimonial from the presbytery to which be 
naturally b< ral ministers of n, recommend- 

* M Philadelphia Presbytery. 



280 Webster's history of the 

ing him as a candidate of exemplary piety and holiness of 
conversation. Montgomery and Talmage dissented from this 
judgment; but it has always remained as a law in the church. 

The debate in respect to Magaw's experience led to the 
introduction of this query in 1761 : — Whether, since holiness 
is a qualification requisite in a gospel minister, it is the duty 
of a presbytery, and possible for them, to make candidates 
give a narration of their personal exercises, and upon this 
form a judgment of their real spiritual state towards God, as 
the ground of admitting or rejecting them ? The answer was 
deferred, as also the request of a number of the members of 
Philadelphia Presbytery to be set ofl* as a distinct judicatory. 
In 1762, the query was withdrawn as not clear. Those who 
apprehended themselves particularly concerned in its. solution, 
declared it was a matter of conscience with them, and there- 
fore highly desirable to ascertain the true and proper meaning 
of the query, the precise thing to be considered. It was stated 
as follows : — Whether a candidate's declaration of his own 
exercises and experiences in religion, given in the way of nar- 
ration, or of answers to questions put to him concerning them, 
should be required by a judicature as one appointed, warrant- 
able, and useful mean of forming a judgment of his experi- 
mental acquaintance with religion, according to which judg- 
ment they are to admit or reject him ? It was ordered that 
every member should be called to speak what he thinks proper 
to the question ; after which, if occasion require, the question 
shall be debated and then determined. John Brainerd took 
the chair, and the roll was called : two days and a half were 
consumed in going through it. The vote was taken on the 
20th, and an affirmative answer was given, thirteen voting in 
the negative, and one being non liquet. 

It was also decided in the affirmative that this solution of 
the query is a compliance with the plain sense and meaning 
of the sixth article of the Plan of Union, and with the order 
in the Westminster Directory to examine candidates touching 
the grace of God in their hearts. 

The dissatisfied declared, that the provision in the eighth 
article for the continuance of presbyteries to act separately, 
till it should be for edification to unite them, was a confirma- 
tion of the method used by the presbyteries of Philadelphia 



PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH IX AMERICA. 2S1 

Synod in licensing candidates. The Presbytery of New York, 
fearing a rupture, had chosen to be absent, and had sent, by 
two of their members, the following proposals: — 

1. Presbyteries may continue to use the methods they 
choose without blame or censure. 2. The mode in any pres- 
bytery shall be adopted by a vote of the majority. 3. They 
may ask, in thesi, what the candidate believes to be the expe- 
riences of a real convert, and whether he believes be has ex- 
perienced this saving change. 4. Ministers majr be joined 
together in presbyteries, so that they may peaceably act accord- 
ing to judgment and conscience in the discharge of this im- 
portant duty. 

These were not acted on; but Treat, S. Finley, and Blair, 
with Dr. Alison, Ewing, and McDowell, and A. Horton, were 
appointed to attempt an amicable accommodation. The synod, 
after solemn prayer to God for direction, agreed that every 
member of a presbytery may use that way which he in con- 
science looks upon as proper to obtain a competent satisfaction 
of a candidate's experimental acquaintance with religion, and 
that then the presbytery, as a presbytery, shall determine whe- 
ther to take him on further trials. This agreement did not 
satisfy a number of the synod. 

Immediately on this vote, and just before adjournment, the 
Second Philadelphia Presbytery was erected, for one year 
at least, to consist of Cross, Alison, Ewing, Simonton, and 
Latta. 

The vehemence on bbth sides is to be traced to two circum- 
stances: — the New side assumed that this declaration of expe- 
rience was the only method by which the piety of a candidate 

COnld !>'• ascertained, ami that tin- dislike to it grew out of the 

opposition of the unconverted, and of their readiness to admit 
oiler- like themselves into the ministry. Eence, John Blair, 
in his "Animadversions on a Pamphlet styled. Remarks on a 
late Decision, and Thoughts on the Examination and Trials of 
Candidates," labours to show the necessity of holiness in 
those thai bear the vessels of the Lord. The old side de- 
nounced this " inspection into the state towards God," as an 
invasion of God'e rights, an ascription to one's self 8f Christ's 
heart-searching power, and an Imitation of the lamentable 
excesses of Davenport and his compeers. They claimed that 



282 Webster's history of the 

there were other methods of complying with the Directory, 

even those always in use in Great Britain and Ireland and 
among ourselves from the beginning. 

Besides the cases of Magaw and Beard, there seems to have 
been only one other in which there was difficulty about the 
declaration of experiences, — that of William Edmeston, who 
was licensed by Donegal Presbytery ; although Roan, Robert 
Smith, and Duffield, protested that they were not satisfied 
concerning his spiritual state. By a remarkable coincidence, 
none of these men continued in the work of the ministry. 
Beard was deposed ; Magaw never had a pastoral charge, and 
took holy orders; Edmeston gave up his license and went 
to England, and, having been made a priest, settled in 
Maryland. 

Hugh "Williamson had been taken on trials by Newcastle 
Presbytery, and, without being dismissed, went off to Connec- 
ticut, and was "approbated" by some association. In May, 
1760, he asked to be received by Philadelphia Presbytery as a 
probationer : there was a tie in the vote, and the matter was 
carried to the synod in the form of two queries: — "Whether 
it is regular for our students of divinity, who intend to return 
and officiate in the bounds of the synod, to go into New Eng- 
land or elsewhere to be licensed?" and, further, "Whether 
any minister or probationer, ordained or licensed in Scotland, 
England, Ireland, Connecticut, or in any of the Reformed 
churches, ought not to be admitted as a minister or proba- 
tioner if he produced sufficient certificates that he was orderly 
ordained or licensed, and has behaved according to his cha- 
racter, provided he adopts our Confession and promises sub- 
jection in the Lord ?" 

The queries were deferred ; but it was voted that Mr. Hugh 
Williamson, a probationer, who was licensed in Connecticut, 
be received under the synod's care. He resigned his license 
in a few years, and served as a ruling elder in the First Church 
in Philadelphia. He became a practitioner of medicine, and 
rose to eminence in political life. It was he who obtained the 
letters of Governor Hutchinson of Massachusetts, through the 
inadvertence of a clerk in the office in London, and, handing 
them to Franklin, he passed over to France. He represented 
North Carolina in the convention which formed our Federal 



PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH IX AMERICA. 2S3 

Constitution, and wrote a history of that State. He spent his 
last years in the city of New York.* 

The queries, "so often repeated," were not answered till 
1764:— 

"Though entertaining a high regard for the Associated 
Churches of Xew England, yet we cannot but judge that stu- 
dents who go to them, or any other than our own presbyteries, 
to obtain license, in order to return and officiate among us, 
act very irregularly; and are not to be approved or employed 
by any of our presbyteries, as hereby we are deprived of the 
right of trying and approving the qualifications of our own 
candidates: but if, in some circumstances, it be thought ne- 
ry for the greater good of a congregation for a student to 
do so, it shall be laid before the presbytery to which the con- 
gregation belongs, and be approved by them. 

" Though every Christian society should maintain communion 
with others so far as they can with a good conscience, yet no 
■y is obliged to adopt or imitate the irregularities or defi- 
eiencies of another, contrary to its own established and approved 
rules . »1* procedure. If any society or body of men is known to 
be of erroneous principles, or to be lax and negligent as to the 
orthodoxy and piety of those they admit to the ministry, as we 
apprehend to be the case of the New Light in Ireland, and of 
Bome other particular judicatures and individual ministers 
who may, and, on this continent, sometimes do, convene toge- 
ther a- a temporary judicature, for the single purpose of licens- 
ing and ordaining a candidate; in such cases, none of our 
lyteriee are obliged to receive and employ in their bounds, 
as ministers or probationers, Buch persons, though producing 
rtificatee and professing to adopt our Confession. But 
it' any minister or candidate comes well recommended by 
on whose testimony we can depend, they are t<> he gladly 
sd, on t hei]' adopting our Confession and promising sub- 
jection in the Lord." 

In 1765, an explanation was added to the answer, affirming 
the undoubted right of presbyteries to converse with persons 
from foreign parts, so tar a- they may find it accessary for their 
own satisfaction, and not to receive them implicitly on h 

* BomoVi Memoira <>f Wfllhun 



284 Webster's history of the 

tificate, and a general profession of the Westminster Confes- 
sion ; and it is highly necessary to be more particular and 
exact in examining the principles of those who come from a 
church or judicature generally suspected or known to be erro- 
neous, or lax and negligent respecting the moral conduct or 
piety of their candidates and ministers, or who come from 
any number of ministers convened without any regular con- 
stitution, merely for the purpose of licensing or ordaining 
particular persons. 

This decision gave no small offence to the Old-Side men, 
who resented highly the insult offered to the New England 
churches. The rule, however, was not stringent enough, in 
the judgment of the other side ; and, the emigration from 
Ireland having greatly increased during the ten years preced- 
ing the Revolution, the number of ministers from that quarter 
increased. In 1773, Roan proposed that no foreign minister 
or candidate should be received until their whole testimonials 
and credentials had been laid before the synod, for the very 
good reason that we had cause to distrust the faithfulness of 
many foreign judicatories in licensing, ordaining, and recom- 
mending men who held not the great doctrines of the Re- 
formation. This overture was admitted by a very small 
majority. 

The whole Second Philadelphia Presbytery unanimously 
dissented, because it takes away the essential rights of pres- 
byteries ; insinuates that they are unsound, or not trust- 
worth} 7 , and is uncharitable and inconsistent w T ith the love, 
respect, and fellowship we owe to the Protestant churches 
abroad ; will prevent foreign ministers froni uniting with 
us, and induce them to erect separate presbyteries : it will 
furnish a pretext for the synod to engross all power, and is as 
much an insult to the northern provinces as to Great Britain 
and Ireland. Rodgers, Caldwell, McWhorter, Montgomery, 
John Miller, Anderson, Read, and McDowell dissented, but 
entered no reasons. Matthew Wilson, Latta, King, and Lang 
dissented for substantially the same reasons as those given 
by the Second Philadelphia Presbytery. They asked, " May 
not ministers who are pious and sound in the faith come from 
Great Britain or Ireland?" 

The synod replied that none of these brethren denied that 



PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH IN AMERICA. 285 

there was so great a degeneracy in the churches of the mother- 
country as rendered it peculiarly necessary that much care 
should be taken in admitting ministers and candidates from 
thence ; and that the presbyteries could not have the same 
means as the synod of information concerning their character, 
nor indeed such as was necessary to judge with any sufficient 
degree of certainty concerning them. It was, however, agreed 
that the overture be expressly declared not to extend to per- 
coming from any part of this continent. 

Rodgers moved that the operation of the overture be sus- 
pended for a year. He afterwards withdrew this proposal, 
and, in the place of Roan's plan, it was ordered that presby- 
teries may, if they see their way clear, employ foreign minis- 
ters, but not receive them to full membership, until their full 
testimonials and recommendations be laid before the synod. 

In 1774, Tate requested a review of the act, and a consi- 
deration of the power by which the synod restrains presby- 
teries from acting according to the best of their judgment, 
in things which, before the Bynod'a act, were allowed to be 
lawful, and not forbidden by the word of God. Tims, Tate 
and his Old-Side coadjutors actually took the ground they 
bad condemned in the New Brunswick Apology as anarchical, 
and which the New Light in Ireland had always so stre- 
nuously maintained as the stronghold of their heresy. 

The synod rescinded the act Witherspoon, Spencer, Hun- 
ter, Blemons, Mitchell, Dofoeld, and Hezekiah James Balch 
dissented. Etodgers, Treat, and McWhorter brought in a 
substitute, which was unanimously approved, and which was 
lows : — 

••h being of the highest importance to the interest of the 

mer's kingdom thai church judicatories should maintain 

with the greatest care orthodoxy in doctrine and purity in 

practice in all their members, the synod, in addition to the 

ien1 of 1764 and '65, do most earnestly recommend to 

the presbyteries, to be very stricl and careful in examining 

the certificates and testimonials Of those who come from 

foreign churches, and be very cautious not to receive them, 
unless they are authenticated by private letters, or other cre- 
dible and sufficient evidence; and the presbyteries shall lay 
the Bynod the testimonials and all other certih'cat 



286 Webster's history of the 

which they have received any foreign minister or probationer ; 
and, if the synod shall find them false or insufficient, the pro- 
ceedings of the presbytery, in receiving him, shall be null, and 
he shall not be owned as in ministerial communion with us. 
But whoever shall come duly recommended from abroad, we 
will receive them as brethren and give them every encourage- 
ment in our power." 

An important minute appears on the Records of 1784 : — 
" The synod, having reason, by information given since this 
meeting, to apprehend the churches under their care in immi- 
nent danger from ministers and licentiates of unsound princi- 
ples from abroad, do hereby renew their former injunctions, 
and strictly enjoin on every member of this body, under pain 
of censure, to be particularly careful in this respect." An 
attested copy of the injunctions and of this minute was sent 
to each presbytery. In 1785, John Hiddleson, a young minis- 
ter of Belfast Presbytery, produced his credentials to the 
synod, and asked to be received as a member of Newcastle 
Presbytery. "Witherspoon, Robert Smith, Miller, McFarquhar, 
Cooper, and Woodhull, having examined his papers and con- 
versed with him, reported that he ought not, in their opinion, 
to be annexed to any of the presbyteries, but may, if he 
choose, be committed to any of them, to deal with him as 
they think best, and report what they do to the next synod. 
He is not mentioned again. It is curious that William 
McKee, of the same presbytery, presented his credentials on 
the same day with Hiddleson, and was at once received. It 
does not appear that, up to the formation of the General 
Assembly, any heretical or unsound teacher, if we except 
Hemphill, was received into membership from any foreign 
body. 

The desponding, complaining tone of the Church ministers, 
in their letters to the Venerable Society and the bishops, is so 
uniform as to be amusing. In New York, not a governor had 
been at church from Sir Charles Hardy's day, in 1743, to 1760. 
The growth of their churches was hindered by sad, untoward 
circumstances. Punderson, of New Haven, lacked the polite- 
ness requisite for that post; Standard, of Bedford, was never 

* Albany Documents. 



PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH IN AMERICA. 287 

agreeable to the people; Lyon, of Setauket, was perfunctory, 
and so covetous that his clothes were ragged. Only one was 
destitute of moral character, — Nathaniel Whitaker, of Mary- 
land, who is denounced as the worst of men. Their gain 
from the Dissenters occasioned them no small uneasiness. 
William McClenachan, from Ireland, had been the minister 
of the Presbyterian churches in Brunswick and Georgetown, 
Maine, from 1734 to 1744, and, after a short stay at Blandford, 
Mass., he was installed colleague with the Rev. Thomas 
Cheever, of Chelsea, near Boston, in 1748. He remained 
there six years; and, having taken holy orders, he was sta- 
tioned as a missionary of the Venerable Society at Frankfort 
and Georgetown, Maine, "being a man* of uncommon forti- 
tude, and cheerfully disposed to undergo hardships." He left 
this frontier-missionf with no credit to himself, and went to 
Virginia. lie engaged himself to a parish, and received 
BQCh marks of their favour that he ought to think himself 
under obligation to Berve them. lie gave encouragement to 
the expectation that if be could obtain the Society's consent 
he would settle with them, lie came to Philadelphia in 1759, 
ami produced a great impression at Christ Church. The 
commissary, Dr. Jenney, was aged, asthmatic, and feeble. 
William Sturgeon was the assistant minister, and another 
minister was needed. In May, seventy-four persons peti- 
tioned the vestry for McClenachan, and they granted him the 
use of the pulpit as a lecturer, provided the subscribers would 
maintain him. In June, he was elected assistant minister. 
Provost Smith and the commissary, though no very good 
friends, united in opposition to hia Battlement Smith was 
Bhocked at an extemporaneous prayer in Christ Church, in 
wlimh, after many complimentary titles addressed to the Most 
High, he said, " We thank thee thai we are not in hell." 
Dr. Johnson, of New Xork, wrote bo the archbishop, >w I wish 
he doee not occasion much disturbance at Philadelphia. I 
doubt be u enthusiastical. 1I«- affects to act a part, like 

AVl.itrlield." 

The Bishop of London wrote, March 25, L760, and declined 



* llawkiii-' - Mkttoni of the RngHsb Church. 

f Dorr*! History of Ohrist Church, Philadelphia. — Albtnj DoomMnta 



288 Webster's history of the 

to license him, and directed the vestry not to countenance 
him, but to assist him to remove to Virginia. They waited 
on him with a copy of the letter. 

Seeing that, having been elected assistant, he was likely 
to be kept out of the post, the New-Side brethren took up 
the matter warmly. He was an Irishman, as most of them 
were. He was introducing evangelical doctrines into a pulpit 
where, from the beginning, an historical faith and a lifeless 
routine had superseded the preaching of the cross. Eighteen 
of them, in May, 1760, addressed a letter to the Archbishop 
of Canterbury, stating their view of the case, and soliciting 
his Grace to use his influence, to constrain the commissary 
to induct him, in obedience to the call of the people. The 
signers were Gilbert and William and Charles Tennent, 
Davies, John Blair, Moses Tuttle, Charles McKnight, Ches- 
nut, Ramsey, Rodgers, James Finley, Kittletas, Roan, Brush, 
Moffet, McWhorter, Robert Smith, and Kennedy. This was 
not without a precedent ; for the Presbytery of New Bruns- 
wick, by a formal vote, had prepared an address to the Earl 
of Holderness, secretary of state, in behalf of Governor Bel- 
cher, who had been assailed. The archbishop took no further 
notice of the letter, than to send a copy of it to this country. 
The Venerable Society declared that McClenachan would 
meet with no countenance on that side of the water. It 
created a great outcry, when it was blazed about, that the Pres- 
byterians had moved the Primate of England to compel the 
Episcopalians of Philadelphia to receive a minister they had 
refused to have. A pamphlet, professedly from a Covenant- 
ing Presbyterian, appeared, giving an exact copy of the letter 
of the eighteen, and seeking to alarm the flocks by this 
amazing defection of their shepherds from the simplicity and 
well-known principles of the Covenanted Reformation ; for 
they had used the official style, and, from their mode of 
addressing " his Grace," one might have fancied they intended, 
like McClenachan, to apply for orders. 

In May, 1761, there was an Episcopal Convention in Phila- 
delphia. There were present Provost Smith, Campbell, of 
New Jersey ; Craig, of Chester ; Reading, of Apoquinimy ; 
Sturgeon, of Philadelphia ; Neill, of Oxford ; Barton, of Lan- 
caster; Thomson, of Carlisle; Duche, of Philadelphia; 



PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH IX AMERICA. 289 

Chandler, of Elizabethtown ; and Keene, of Maryland. They 
applied to the governor for his approbation and protec- 
tion during the sitting. He replied he had no objection, 
and would give all needful protection. On the 23d, they 
attended the commencement of the College of Philadelphia, 
and. on the 25th, sent to the synod the letter of the eighteen 
brethren to the archbishop, with a complaint of such an inter- 
ce. The matter was committed to McDowell, Caleb 
Smith, Samuel Pinley, Matthew Wilson, and Hector Alison. 
Their minute was adopted, declaring that the brethren had 
acted improperly and without due consideration in the affair, 
particularly in asking for the induction of McClenachan. 
The members complained of declared, that they, like the rest 
of the synod, are opposed to induction, if by induction is 
meant the forcible obtrusion of a minister on a people against 
their will, and that they only desired the archbishop to use 
his influence in settling one whom they understood was the 
choice of the congregation. The synod declined to notice 
the doubtful insinuations made by McClenachan, and would 
not put the eighteen on the unusual task of clearing them- 
selves, when there is no evidence against them. 

The Old Side are said to have enjoyed greatly the awkward 

>n of their brethren, particularly when the pamphlet 

containing their letter was hawked and cried in the synod's 

hearing : — k ' Here's your eighteen Presbyterian ministers for a 

groat. Who'll buy ?"* 

The pamphlet was answered by a layman, who shows that no 
I ..inter, but some Episcopalian, had issued it, and that the 

sipiib had so pleased the clergy that they had departed from 
the convention with their saddle-hags staffed with it. He 
added that the application of the eighteen for holy orders 
I be exceedingly acceptable to the dignitaries of the 
Church, who, for want of better candidates, gave the gown to 

drunkards, dupes, and debauchee-. The retort Was hitler and 

insulting in the extreme. It sneers at the defender of the 
eighteen as being well known as , "thecnrsing prophet/' and 

esbytcrians were sadly to he pitied if the eighteen 

were tic- bed pari of their ministers. He then pictures them 



Iflller'l Ufa <>f Rodgers. 
19 



290 WEBSTER'S HISTORY OF THE 

with some of their younger associates as having reached 
the Bishop of London's palace, seeking admission into the 
ministry of the English Church. John Blair is put forward 
as mistaking the bishop's porter for the bishop and opening 
in homely phrase the object of their visit. The porter intro- 
duces them to his lordship, who courteously asks, " Good 
people, to what do I owe this visit?" There being some hesi- 
tation, Charles Tennent says, haughtily, " We've come to get 
the gown. We hear you give it to drunkards, dupes, and 
debauchees ; and we want it." The bishop, in amazement, 
scarcely believes his ears ; when Roan obsequiously suggests 
that, if his worship wants linen to his skirts, "sax hunder 
reeds fine, he is the man in the face of day to weave it." 
This leads the others to declare their proficiency in their 
respective trades, and into a dispute about their comparative 
skill ; and the bishop dismisses them with the advice to stick 
to the last and not look for the gow T n. 

McClenachan is not named subsequently anywhere, to our 
knowledge. The letter of Provost Smith to the archbishop, on 
the case, is transcribed into the Albany Documents, under the 
impression that it was from William Smith, the prominent 
opponent of the Episcopal movement in New York. 

The Episcopal clergy in the colonies had little ground to 
complain of the eighteen, for they were continually moving 
the primate, and all in authority, to act against the Dissenters. 
Their persevering resistance of the Incorporation of the Pres- 
byterian Church in New York was »not a solitary instance. 
Chandler, of Elizabethtown, admits that the counsel refused 
the Incorporation, because William Smith, Esq. was a member 
of the congregation, and he had been active against encroach- 
ments on our civil and religious rights. Dr. Johnson told his 
Grace that Smith's book was the principal cause of the com- 
plaints against the Church missionaries. The primate had 
serious thoughts of attempting to prevent the Society in New 
England for Propagating the Gospel from being incorporated ; 
and by his interference the charter was disallowed. Nor was 
it any new thing for the New England divines to bring before 
archiepiscopal eyes the misdemeanours of colonial Churchmen. 
His Grace learned, through the Dissenters, that Beach, of New- 
town, had vented certain errors ; and he called the attention of 



PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH IN AMERICA. 291 

the clergy to the matter- The "Independent Whig and Re- 
flector" reached Lambeth; and pamphlets, which Dr. Johnson 
had not heard of in Xew York, crossed the water and were 
even in bishops' palaces. His Grace was amazed at the viru- 
lence of an anonymous writer on the "Benefits of Conformity," 
and wondered how the Dissenters could fail to see that such 
things must rebound and injure them. 

"As the church doth hither westward fly, 
in doth dog her instantly." 

"There is nothing," said Dr. Johnson, "they will stick at: 
they patronize monstrous enthusiasm, strolling teachers, and 
wild notions." 

Doddridge, in 1751, possessed the Archbishop of Canterbury 
with the character of Davies, and the candour of his attempt: — 
"If the affair should ever come before the King, his Grace's 
designs are so pacific, that neither you nor any of the Dis- 
senters will sutler any injustice he can prevent." 

In November, 1757, Alison proposed to establish a maga- 
zine. He wn.tc against the Episcopal projectors in the "l'hila- 
delpliia Sentinel." 

In May, 17o0, the synod resolved to have some correspond- 
ence with the Consociated Churches of Connecticut, and pre- 
pared a letter to be presented to them by Ewing, Patrick 
Alison, and Spencer, the moderator. They were charged to 
propose that each body should appoint certain ministers to 
■ her yearly, ai such place ae the General Association 
should select. The letter was transmitted at once. Whittle- 

f the First Church in New Haven, says, "the first he 
beard <>i' the proposed convention was from Mr. Bill Smith of 

York." 

Tie- convention me1 at Elizabethtown, November •">, 17<i<i. 

Peter Van Schaak, afterwards an eminent counsellor, then 
a youth, wrote, January l!7, 1769, " Our election in New York 
City is ended, amC the Church i- triumphant, in spite of all the 
efforts of the Presbyterians. The Churchmen regard it u a 
complete victory t it is a lasting monument of the power of 
the mercantile interest The Presbyterians think they have, 

as a religion- body, every thing to dread from the glowing 

power of the Church." In Aug:-;. 1769, Zubly, of Savannah* 



292 Webster's history op the 

sent to Dr. Stiles a copy of Makemie's trial, as being important 
at this crisis; it had been reprinted in the "Watchtower," in 
New York, in 1755. 

The counties east of the Hudson received the English part of 
their population from the adjoining townships of Connecticut. 
They looked to the Association of Fairfield county for candi- 
dates and for assistance in all spiritual and secular affairs of 
their churches. Bedford, Cronpond, (Yorktown,) Hanover, in 
Cortland Manor, (Peekskill.) and Salem, put themselves under 
New Brunswick Presbytery in 1743. Rumbout and Fishkill 
were received by New York Presbytery in 1751. Salem invited 
the Fairfield ministers to ordain Mead as their pastor, in 1752 ; 
about that time, John Smith, of Rye, joined New York Pres- 
bytery. Ten years after,* Kent, of the First Church in 
Philipse's patent, and Peck, of the Second, met with Mead, of 
Salem, and, considering that they and their churches bad no 
connection with any ecclesiastical body, did accept the plan of 
government used in North Britain, and adopted the Westmin- 
ster Confession, and the Larger and Shorter Catechisms, as 
the confession of their faith, and the Directory and Discipline 
to be their rule of worship and discipline. They resolved, in 
the most amicable manner, to form themselves into a presby- 
tery, and, October 27, 1762, chose Kent moderator, and Peck 
clerk: at a subsequent meeting they appointed, Mead to attend 
the synod in Philadelphia, and desire their incorporation with 
it. "The smallpox was so thick in the city," that he sent the 
request by letter. Full satisfaction was given by several mi- 
nisters of the good character of the applicants, and of their 
standing in the churches, "and that no unfriendly views or dis- 
affection to the neighbouring Connecticut churches led them 
to desire to unite with us." The request was granted, and 
Smith and Graham, of New York Presbyter}', and Ball and 
Sackett, of Suffolk, were joined with them, under the name of 
Dutchess County Presbytery. The new presbytery, hearing 
that the only condition of union was the adoption of the Con- 
fession and the observance of the Directory, did heartily, 
cheerfully, and renewedly declare their adoption of them. 



* MS. Records of Dutchess County Presbytery : in the hands of Dr. Johnston, of 
New Burgh. 



PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH IN AMERICA. 293 

They soon after received the church in Albany under their 
care, with its minister, AVilliam Hanna, and, in 1765, Samuel 
Dun lop, — from a presbytery to the eastward of Boston, — the 
minister of Cherry Valley. Much of the territory covered by 
their congregations was neutral ground during the Revolu- 
tion, and was wasted by both parties: the ministers retired, the 
meeting-houses were burned, and the people greatly broken 
in their circumstances. The presbytery was much weakened 
from this cause, and, being reduced in numbers by death, re- 
ceived from New York Presbytery the ministers on the west 
side of the river, and took the style of Hudson Presbytery. 

Thus passed the first half-century of the existence of our 
favoured church in America. Who, on the survey of these 
years, does not hear the angel-voice saying to her, "Hail, 
thou that art highly favoured!" Onward was her progress, 
through poverty, through neglect of the British churches, 
through the cramping, crippling subserviency of royal gover- 
nors to the monopolizing measures of the Establishment. 
What church, since the days of the apostle, has been adorned 
with such a retinue, headed by Makemie, and spreading, 
through many of equal worth, to Bostwick, Rodgers, and 
Davies? Each presbytery was a constellation of pastors, "the 
glory of Christ." See, in Suffolk, Buel, Brown, and Prime ; in 
New York, Pemberton, Cumming, and Bostwick; in East 
Jersey, the Dickinsons, Burr, Pierson, the Tennents and the 
Brainerds, Cowell, Spencer, and Rowland. What an array 
the New-Side Preshytery of Newcastle presented! — the Blairs, 
the FinleyB, Etoherl Smith, Hugh Henry, Dean, Rodgers, and 
Davies. And, though Less celebrated, yet widely useful, the 
men of the < Hd Side, — Gillespie, Alison, Thomson, Creaghead, 
Boyd, and McDowelL 

How steady, how rapid, how permanent her enlargement! 
From Connecticut to North Carolina, at every frontier-post, 
she Bet up her banners. Her standard-bearers in the extremes! 
points were men who mighl have adorned the chief cities of 
any land. Craig, and Davies, and Drown, and Todd, in Vir- 
ginia; ami Craighead, Campbell, Patillo, and MoAden, in 
North Carolina, — and, before all, Robinson. 

They who Berved in the ministry were allured by no splendid 



294 Webster's history of the Presbyterian church. 

prizes ; they endured hardship as good soldiers of Jesus, for 
from him had they received their ministry. 

No new theory, no philosophy of religion, gave them promi- 
nence and bewitched the people with the belief that they were 
the great power of God. " That which ye have heard from the 
beginning," "the word which began to be' spoken by the 
Lord," was the message they brought; and they delivered it in 
goodly and time-honoured words. 

Sound in the faith, lovers of learning, steadfast in duty, they 
toiled silently, unitedly. He who hastens his work in his own 
time commanded the blessing like the daily dew, even life for 
evermore. A little one became a thousand. " The Breaker 
is come up before them; they have broken up and passed 
through the gate;" and of them he said, "0 satisfied with 
favour and full with the blessing of the Lord, possess thou the 
south and the west." 



PART II. 



^liograpljical 



§iflgrap|ies. 



FRANCIS MAKEMIE. 

A native of the county Donegal, he had probably studied at 
one of the Scottish universities. ■ In January, 1681, he was intro- 
duced to Laggan Presbytery by the Rev. Thomas Drummond, of 
Rathmelton,* — the brother, we presume, of William Drummond, the 
first governor of North Carolina, and who afterwards, in Bacon's 
War, suffered death as a rebel under Sir William Berkeley, Gover- 
nor of Virginia. f 

The record of his ordination is lost. Two of his letters to In- 
crease Mather, of Boston, are preserved in the library of the 
Massachusetts Historical Society. 

Elizabeth River, Va., 22 July, 1084. 

Reverend and Dear Brother: — 

I wrote to you, though unacquainted, by Mr. Lamb, from North 
Carolina, of my designe for Ashley River, South Carolina, which 
I was forward in attempting that I engaged in a voyage, and went 
to sea in the month of May; but God in his providence saw lit I 
should not see it at the time, for we were tosst upon the coast by 
contrary winds, and to the north as far as Delaware Bay, so that, 
falling short in our provisions, we were necessitated, after several 

- to the south, to Virginia; and, in the mean while. Colonel 
Anthony Lawson, and other inhabitants of the parish of Lynn- 

i. in Lower Norfolk county, (who had a Dissenting minister 
from Ireland, until the Lord iras pleased to remove him by death 
in August last; among whom I preached before I wen! to tin- 
South, in coming from Maryland, against their earnest importu- 
nity,) coming so pertinently in the place of our landing for water, 
prevailed with me to stay this season; which the more easily over- 
came me, con.-idering the season of the year and the little eii- 

* Bdd'l IrUh I'n-sb. Church. f BuMTOft'l SI ' •'■ S. 

187 



298 FRANCIS MAKEMIE. 

couragement from Carolina, from the sure information I have had. 
But for the satisfaction of my friends in Ireland, whom I design 
to be very cautious in inviting to any place in America I have yet 
seen, I have sent one of our number to acquaint me further con- 
cerning the place. I am here assured of liberty and other en- 
couragements, resolving to submit myself to the sovereign provi- 
dence of God, who has been pleased so unexpectedly to drive 
me back to this poor, desolate people, among whom I designe to 
continue till God in his providence determine otherwise concern- 
ing me. 

I have presumed a second before I can hear how acceptable my 
first has been. I hope this will prevent your writing to Ashley 
River, and determine your resolution to direct your letters to 
Colonel Anthony Lawson, att the Eastern Branch of Elizabeth 
River. I expect, if you have an opportunity of writing to Mr. 
John Hart,* you will acquaint him concerning me; which, with 
your prayers, will oblige him who is your dear and affectionate 
brother in the gospel of our Lord Jesus, 

Ffrancis Makemie. 

It is probable that Makemie came over to the people in " Mary- 
land beside Virginia," who had applied to his presbytery for a 
minister by Colonel Stevens in December, 1680. In the fall of 
1683, he travelled by land as far as Norfolk, and proceeded to 
Carolina. 

Elizabeth Rivee, 28 July, 1685. 

Honoured Sir:— 

Yours I received by Mr. Hallet with three books, and am not a 
little concerned that those sent to Ashley River were miscarried, 
for which I hope it will give no offence to declare my willingness 
to satisfy ; for there is no reason they should be lost to you, and 
far less that the gift should be ... f for which I own myself your 
debtor. And assure yourself if you have any friend in Virginia, 
to find me ready to receive your commands. I have wrote to Mr. 
Wardrope,! and beg you would be pleased to order the safe con- 
veyance thereof unto his hands. I have also wrote to Mr. Thomas 
Barret, a minister who lived in South Carolina, who, when he 
wrote to me from Ashley River, was to take shipping for New 
England. So that I conclude that he is with you. But, if there 
be no such man in the country, let me letter be returned. 
I am yours in the Lord Jesus, 

Ffrancis Makemie. 



* The minister of Londonderry. f Illegible. 

X Mentioned in Macdonald's History of Jamaica, as having been there as a 
minister and removed to Pennsylvania. 



FRASCIS MAKEMIE. 299 

In 1690, Makemie was residing in Accomac county, Virginia, 
and was engaged in the West India trade. The next year he 
visited London, and conversed, among others, with Mr. John 
Faldo, an aged C'liirrogational minister.* 

In 1692, four hundred and fifty acres of land were granted him 
by certificate of Accomac Court. 

George Keith, having been expelled by the Society of Friends, 
denounced them as erroneous, and travelled in the Southern pro- 
vinces to establish his peculiar views. He saw a catechism which 
Makemie had prepared and published, and sent him word he would 
make him a visit. He did so in July, 1692; and Makemie "scorned 
with sharp retorsion" the charges of error, and his misconstruction 
of "my compassion of the tender souls in an American desart." 
He declined a public dispute with him, knowing that Keith would 
para le his learning before the people, who were incompetent to 
of the genuineness, accuracy, Or relevancy of his quotations 
from ancient authors. Keith then wrote an examination of the 
ism, and left it with Mr. George Layfield,| to be placed in 
Makemie's hands. On his way north he made, to the Rev. Samuel 
. in Delaware, a statement to Makemie's discredit, similar to 
■ made to Makemie concerning the London ministers. He 
charged him, in his paper, with denying or wholly overlooking our 
need of the influences of the Spirit, and with "running to the Pope 
and Church of Rome, by that dirty conduit to have his call to the 
ministry conveyed to him." 

Makemie, in August, 1692, "satisfied his desire," and visited 
Pennsylvania, and witnessed the ferment growing out of the rup- 
ture with Keith. He soon after issued from the press, at Boston, 
'•An answer to George Keith's libel on a catechism published by 
F. Makemie. H J This bears, in black-letter, 

IMPRIMATUR, 

Increase Mather; 

and i- recommended by Increase Mather, James Allen, S. Willard, 
J. Bailey, and Cotton Mather, as the work of a "reverend and 
judicious minister." 

••1 sin constrained to justify my office from these uncharitable 
calumnies, and that grace might be magnified by giving this rela- 

•!m\v H'-nrv Wrote t., hi- father in Frliru.-iry, L68&-7, that Mr. Paldo, "H 

ing with penal laws n w among the t'n-t to 

I . idredt of j pie. Se published ■ against 

t)i>' Qo 
t in ■ paper in the Britten 81 ite* Paper Office, 'in- oames <•!' those inhabit 

tobed i" ill" Government | are prioked ; 
smong • oendante still reside there. 

♦ in Lfbrarv of U us. n • .-■■••., end in <»M South dhoroh Library, Boston. 



300 FRANCIS MAKEMIE. 

tion in the sight of an all-seeing and omnipresent God, that ere I 
received the imposition of hands in that scriptural and orderly way 
of separation unto my holy and ministerial calling, I gave re- 
quiring satisfaction to godly, learned, and judicious discerning men 
of a work of grace and conversion wrought in my heart by the 
Holy Spirit in my fourteenth year, by and from the pains of a 
godly schoolmaster, who used no small diligence in gaining tender 
souls to God's service and fear ; since which time, to the glory of 
God's free grace be it spoke, I have had the sure experiences of 
God's various dealings with me, according to his infinite and un- 
erring wisdom, for my unspeakable comfort." 

Makemie complains that Keith had published " no form of sound 
words," to which reference might be made for his true sentiments; 
and that he had, "at the house of Thomas Eooks, in Onancock, 
and at Nuswuddux," and in London, taught that the Scriptures 
were like a letter from an absent husband to his wife, which is 
needful for her guidance and precious during his absence, but is 
superseded by the words of his lips when he returns. If Christ 
were not present with his people, they would need the Scriptures. 

This pamphlet is remarkable for printing Calume and Calumists 
for the name of the Great Reformer of Geneva. 

He had married* Naomi, the daughter of William Anderson, of 
Accomac. His father-in-law left him by will a thousand acres on 
Matchatank Creek, besides a release of the moneys lent him. 

About this period, he qualified himself, under the Toleration 
Act in Barbadoes, as a Dissenting minister, and in 1699 published 
in Edinburgh " Truths in a new light ; or, a Pastoral Letter to the 
Reformed Protestants in Barbadoes, f vindicating the Non-conform- 
ists and showing that they are the truest and soundest part of 
the Church of England." He rejects the Liturgy, because of its 
" stinted composed and imposed forms of prayer, its use of a corrupt 
version of the Psalms, and its rejection of their Scripture titles, 
prefixed by the Divine Author." After some objections to the 
burial-service, he asks, " Why it was denied to the living at the fune- 
ral of the Rev. H. Vaughan, Dec. 28, 1697 ?" He laments that the 
vitals of religion are wounded and the doctrine of election assailed 
by church ministers as contrary to the Bible and discouraging to 
piety ; and pointedly asks, whether a sinner, without the special 
and entire grace of God, can repent, believe, regenerate, and save 
himself? He prays that the God of all grace would bless the 
world with a better spirit, and adds, that it is a paradox in Barba- 
does to hear of a Presbyterian minister taking up the cudgels in 
defence of a fundamental Established Church doctrine against a son, 
member, and minister of the English Church. 

* Spence's Early History of Presbyterianism. 
•j- Library of Harvard University. 



FRANCIS MAKEMIE. 301 

Before this publication, he returned to Accomac ; and tradition 
says* that his preaching far and wide drew on him the anger of the 
Virginia clergy, and that he was seized and carried to the gover- 
nor at Williamsburg; and that his noble vindication obtained for 
him the governor's license to preach throughout the Old Dominion. 
As a result, it is thought, of his argument, the Virginia Legisla- 
ture entered, April 15, 1699, the Act of Toleration on their Sta- 
tute-book. On the 15th of October,! "he did produce to Accomac 
court certificates from Barbadoea of his qualification there," and 
was licensed to preach in his own dwelling-house on Pocomoke, 
Dear the Maryland, and at Onancock, five miles from Drummond- 
ton, in the house next to Captain Jonathan Livesey's. 

He sailed fur England in the summer of 1704. He published in 
London, in handsome Btyle,$ "A Plain and Loving Persuasion to 
the inhabitants of Virginia and Maryland for promoting towns and 
CO-habitation." It was dedicated to Edward Nott, Lieutenant- 
Governor of Virginia, who is characterized as "having so large a 
Stock of temper and unbiassed interest." He notes as " an un- 
acconntahle humour, and singular to most rationale, that in those 
provinces no attempt was made to build up towns." As induce- 
ments to do so, he urges that it would increase the worth of the 
whole country, fill the land with people, make trade easier and less 
expensive, would prevent many frauds, give employment to the 
poor, and be of great advantage to religion, education, and general 
welfare. He reminds them that planting is overdone, the fields 
.stripped and drained; while the other course would bring artists 
and tradesmen, and, instead of depending on one staple, they 
might carry on foreign and home trade. He mentions and refutes 
the objections: it would cause a falling off from the cultivation of 
-, and that there could not be much trade in time of peace. 
The growth of large towns would lead, say some, to cast off de- 
pendence and allegience to the mother-country; but why, he asks, 
should this thought DC improved against us, and not against Bos- 
ton, Neil York, and other rising places? The closing objection 
he -apposes to be thai the inhabitants arc against towns; for, tf 

(fere towns, there would 1"' ordinaries; and that would lead 
to drunkenness. He answers, the giving away of liquor makes 
drunkard-;; if then; W< re ordinaries, liquOT could only he ob- 
tained by purchase ; if there were towns, there would be stocks, and 
t/ould be placid in them. 
In the -umiiier of L705, be Bailed for America, bringing with 



Igers. f Spin' '•. 

♦ Libr. of llm-v. Coll Thi- wu probably prepared si the suggestion of 

colonies in Qreat Britain; for tin' British QoYernmenl irai ai this time 
earnestly pressing on the OovnaU In Maryland to M ereo1 quays and towns." M88. 

of Maryland Hi torleaJ Society. 



302 FRANCIS MAKEMIE. 

him John Hampton and George McNish. In the next summer, 
they succeeded, through the interposition of Governor Seymour, 
in obtaining license of Somerset County Court to officiate as Dis- 
senting ministers at four places on the Eastern Shore of Maryland. 
In December, 1706, he was Moderator of the Presbytery of Phila- 
delphia, at a meeting held probably in Freehold to ordain Boyd as 
an evangelist. 

In company with Hampton, he immediately set out for Boston, 
and, having paid his respects to his excellency the governor at 
New York, he was unexpectedly invited to preach. He left it to 
them to find a place for the meeting. Neither the Dutch minister 
nor the elders of the French Church dared to invite him to their 
pulpits without Lord Cornbury's consent. Anthony Young waited 
on him to obtain permission ; but it was refused. William Jackson 
opened his house at the lower end of Pearl Street ; and there Ma- 
kemie preached on the Sabbath, January 19, 1707, and baptized a 
child ; there being five present, and five above that, at the least. 
His text was Psalm 1. 28 : — "And to him that ordereth his con- 
versation aright will I show the salvation of God." It was the 
substance of two sermons. 

After unfolding the text, he announced this doctrine : — A well- 
ordered conversation is the only way to the kingdom of heaven. It 
is not causo regnandi, sed via regni. It is not the meritorious cause 
of salvation, but the way in which we must go, to enter into life. 

I. What is presupposed in a conversation ordered aright ? 

II. What is a well-ordered conversation ? 

III. Why is it necessary as the way ? 

IV. What is necessary to advance it ? 

V. What usually hinders it ? 

It closed with a practical application. 

There was at this time a small Presbyterian congregation in the 
city, which assembled in a private house to read the Scriptures, and 
to unite in prayer and praise. At what period they commenced 
these meetings is unknown. Some of their number had long been 
residents of New York. The names preserved by Dr. Miller, are 
David Jamison, Esq., Capt. John Theobalds, Mr. John Vanhorn, 
Mr. William Jackson, and Mr. Anthony Young. 

Jamison,* having been classically educated, had been taken up as 
a "sweet singer" in company with Gib, in 1681, and imprisoned. 
He was, by leave of the Council, carried off by Captain Lock- 
hart, " voluntarily," and, being offered for sale in New York, was 
bought by Mr. Clark, the minister in the fort, and permitted to 
teach school. Entering the office of Mr. Clarkson, Secretary of 
the Province, he acquired a knowledge of law and was admitted 
to practice; he was an attorney in Lord Bellamont's time, and 

* Wodrow. — Albany Documents. 



FRANCIS MAKEMIE. ■ 303 

afterwards Clerk of the Council. Governor Fletcher was his bene- 
factor. By his zeal in religion, art, and management, he rose to 
eminence. To him the Church of England owed its legal establish- 
ment in the province. Governor Hunter describes him as the 
greatest man he ever knew, and on the death of Mr. Mompessom 
made him Chief-Justice of New Jer.-cy. John and Garret Van- 
horn were merchants in the city in 1705.* 

On Tuesday, Makemie went to Newton, L.I., having appointed 
to preacjb there the next day. He was arrested by Cornbury's 
order, and with Hampton was carried to Jamaica by the sheriff 
and lodged in the meeting-house. In the evening of Thursday, 
being brought before Cornbury, he demanded "How dare you take 
it upon y>u to preach in my government without my license? 
None -hall preach in my government without it. The Act of 
Toleration does not extend to the American Plantations, but 
only to England. I know it is local and limited, for I was at the 
making of it. It extends to New York only by her Majesty's 
instructions signified unto me, and is from her prerogative and 
clemency." 

Makemie was satisfied that "the law for liberty" had no limit- 
ing clanse; but he said, kk lf extended to the plantations by the 
Queen'fl clemency, our certificates are demonstration that we have 
Complied therewith." 

Cornbury said, "The certificates are only for Virginia and 
Maryland. The law was made against strolling preachers, and 
you are such. You shall not spread your pernicious doctrines 

Noble was the reply: — "As to our doctrine-, we lmve our Con- 

i of Faith, which is known to the Christian world; and [ 

challenge all the clergy of York to show us any false or pernicious 

doctrines therein; yea, with those exceptions specified in the law, 

(the articles not doctrinal,) we are able to make it appear that they 

are, in all doctrinal articles of faith, agreeable to the established 

doctrines of the Church of England." 

aey-genersJ said, the certificates were written under a 

Cornbury caughl at the clerk's omission in their certificates 

e that they had signed the Articles of Religion, and at bis 

having preached in a private house. u You mnsl give bond and 

security for V"iir good hehaviour, and al.-o bond and security tO 

ii no more in my government." 
•'If your Lordship requires it, we will give security for our be- 
haviour; but to give bond attd security to preach no more in your 

excel!. rnment, If invited and desired by any people, we 

neither can nor dare do." 



» William Jaokaon ind John Young won fcloo shipped t" the Plantation! by t ho 

Council hum Scotland. 



304 • FRANCIS MAKEMIE. 

"Then," said Cornbury, "you must go to gaol." 

While he was writing an order for their commitment, Makemie 
offered to pay the attorney-general, who was present, for a copy 
of that paragraph which contained the limiting clause of the Toler- 
ation Act. 

Cornbury said, "You, sir, know law?" 

Makemie replied, "I do not pretend to know law; but I do 
pretend to know this law, having had divers disputes thereon." 

The mistake made in his name — Mackennan — in the first order 
was rectified, and they were carried by the high-sheriff of the 
city and county to his dwelling, "to be safely kept till further 
orders." 

Cornbury disregarded their petition to state for what they were 
imprisoned ; no habeas corpus could issue till Chief-Justice Mom- 
pessom came from New Jersey. At the meeting of the Quarter 
Sessions, they applied for his lordship's leave to take the oaths and 
be qualified; "for we are resolved to reside in your lordship's go- 
vernment." He refused ; and when, by their attorney, they applied 
to the justices, the attorney-general put their application in his 
pocket, not suffering it to be read. The justices declined to 
license Jackson's house as a place of worship for Dissenters. 

The habeas was issued the 8th day of March, and my lord issued 
a new order of commitment in due form, admitting the illegality 
of the other. The sheriff refused to execute the writ of habeas 
corpus till they had paid "twelve pieces-of-eight" for their com- 
mitment, and as many more for the execution of the writ. They 
now gave security, Dr. John Johnstone, of the Jerseys, and Wil- 
liam Jackson, being their bail. 

The Supreme Court met on Tuesday, March 11, and they were 
present; but the attorney moved, and it was ordered, that they 
appear on the last day of term. While the grand jury were con- 
sidering the case, Cornbury ordered Major Sandford, of Newark, 
to examine Jasper Crane, of Newark, and the Rev. Samuel Melyen, 
of Elizabethtown, concerning the discourse Makemie had with 
them. The grand jury examined four witnesses, who testified that 
Makemie preached no false doctrine. They brought in on the last 
day a bill charging him with preaching without being qualified or 
permitted, and using other rites and ceremonies than those of the 
Common Prayer. The trial was set down for the June term ; and 
Makemie, on his own bonds and those previously given, was allowed 
to depart. 

The Presbytery met on Saturday, March 22, and adjourned till 
Tuesday at 4 P. M. At that time Makemie and Hampton ap- 
peared ; and Makemie, " by way of exercise," and Wilson, " by way 
of addition," preached on Hebrews i. 1, 2. The discourses were 
aDproved. 

In June, he returned to New York with his man, and, pleading 



FRANCIS MAKEMIE. 305 

not guilty, the petit jury was called on the 6th. Not having the 
right of peremptory challenge, he objected against Elias Neau, 
who had justified Cornbury's course. Makemie expressed sur- 
prise at such language from a Huguenot, so lately dragooned out 
of France. He was employed as a catechist by the Venerable 
Society: "a good man,* but not in favour with the rector, Yesey." 
- strongly attached to the Church; "he would not condemn 
the Dissenters, Leaving that judgment to God:" which, considering 
how much the Church had invaded the divine prerogatives, was 
remarkably moderate. Neau was set aside. 

The jury being impanelled, Makemie admitted having preached 
at the time and place signified. The attorney-general, Mr. Bickley,f 
read the Queen's instructions to the governor: — "You are not to 
permit any minister, without certificate from the Bishop of London, 
t<> preach without obtaining your leave." The attorney-general 
asserted the Queen's supremacy as head of the Church; cited the 
I Uniformity, ami the Queen's instructions. "I doubt not 
the jury will find for the Queen*" 

Mr. Regniere| replied, showing that the preaching was not pri- 
vate nor unlawful, For the law of the province was, that all pcr- 

- • - profi Jsing faith in God by Jesus Christ his only Son, may 
freely meet at convenient places and worship according to their 
respective persuasions. The Act of Uniformity does not extend 
to New England, nor to this province; we have no more need of 
the Toleration Act than they. 

Mr. William Nicoll made merry with the attorney-general's 
argumenl ; he asserted the constitutions of the Plantations to have 
settled, as by national consent, for those whose thoughts in 
religious matters could not square with the national establish- 
ment. 

Mr. David Jamison said, "We have no Established Church here; 
we have liberty of conscience by act of Assembly made in the be- 
ginning of William ami Mary's reign. This province is made up 

of Dissenters and persons oot <»f English birth." 
Makemie, having have, .-aid, c> He agreed with what the attor- 
eneral had asserted before Lord Cornbury, — that the penal 

■ - and the Act of Tohration were local, not reaching to the 

Plantations, lb' showed that the Queen's instructions related 
solely to minister-- of the Establishment. Why are we denied what 
|y given to Lutherans, < makers, and Jews?" 
attorney-general moved that the jury he directed t" I 

in a special \erdict, and the chief-justice directed them to do e >. 

+ May Bickley, Esq., died in April, 1724. ••If'- «:>- '■••! ^ hamater-at-law." 

— Hew Vnrk I' 

ranla. 



306 FRANCIS MAKEMIE. 

The jury in a short time returned, bringing in a verdict of not 
guilty. This was the more remarkable, for the governors were 
careful, when appointing sheriffs, to select such that the Church* 
-'might be safe as to the juries;" even Governor Hunter claimed 
credit for having displaced gentlemen from the Commission of the 
Peace, on Staten Island, because they were not as friendly to the 
church as the missionary at that post desired. Four of the jury 
were Huguenots, — Bartholemew Laroux, Andrew Lauron, Thomas 
Bayeux, and Charles Cromline. One, William Horsewell, was pro- 
bably a Presbyterian, named Horsefield, whose descendant was 
afterwards an elder. 

Mr. Regniere moved that the defendant be discharged, but the 
chief-justicef declined; the next day his discharge was ordered, he 
paying the fees. These amounted to eighty-three pounds. The 
legislature soon after denounced the iniquity of requiring a man, 
proved innocent, to pay the costs of an unjust prosecution. 

Makemie preached in the French Church, and proceeded to New 
Jersey. Cornbury issued new processes to arrest him there, as 
concerned in the authorship of the Jersey paper entitled " Forget 
and Forgive." A whole Sabbath was spent in vain search for him, 
and he was put to a fresh expense of twelve pounds to escape into 
Connecticut. He wrote from Boston to Cornbury, July 28, 1707, 
that the authors of the paper smiled at his lordship's mistake, and 
that he waited a time to confront his sworn accusers in court and 
convict them of perjury: — 

"My universal known reputation makes me easy under the in- 
vidious imputation of being a Jesuit. I have been represented 
to your lordship as being factious both in Virginia and Maryland. 
I have lived peaceably in Virginia ; I have brought from Mary- 
land a certificate of my past reputation, signed by some of the 
best men in Somerset county." 

He printed, at Boston, the sermon! which occasioned his impri- 
sonment, with the motto, (Matthew v. 11 ; Acts v. 29 :) — " Preces et 
lachrymse sunt arma ecclesise." It is dedicated to the small con- 
gregation which heard it. "Had I been thoroughly acquainted 
with New York, and the irregularities thereof, which afterwards I 
was an eye and ear witness of, I could not have selected a more 
suitable doctrine." This he ascribes to Divine Providence, and 
hopes it may be an inducement to awaken sinners. The dedication 
is dated March 3, 1706-7. 



* Governor Hunter : in Albany Documents. 

f " Mompessom was sent over as chief-justice to Pennsylvania, by William Penn, 
with high commendations, but, receiving no encouragement, went to New York." — 
Janney's Life of Penn. Governor Hunter says, "His poverty exposed him to temp- 
tations." — New York Documents. 

% In the Library of Colonel Force, at Washington. 



FRANCIS MAKEMIE. 307 

Cornbury, "that noble patron of* the Church here, '* was rebuked. 
by the Rev. Thorogood Moor, a Church minister, for debauchery 
and swearing. He refused to administer the Lord's Supper to a 
man of so evil a life as Lieutenant-Governor Ingoldsby. Corn- 
bury threw him into prison: he escaped on ship-board, and was 
lost "ii his voyage to England. 

Cornbury was displaced soon after. Colonel Quarryf wrote, June 
28, 1707, — " Colonel Morris and Jennings, with two or three others, 
had been very hard at work in hatching the most scandalous paper 
1 erer .-aw in my life. It was false, malicious, unjust, and most bar- 
barously rude; they treated his excellency most inhumanly; they 
got printed a scandalous libel and dispersed a vast number. They 
had got an Assembly in the Jerseys to their mind." This libel was 
probably the Jersey paper, which came out in February, while 
Makemie was in durance, and which so exasperated Cornbury. 

Dr. John Johnstorte, of the Jerseys, a druggist in Edinl urgh, 
married Enpham, daughter of George Scot, of Pitlochie, and ac- 
companied his father-in-law in his ill-fated voyage to New Jersey. 
ister, with her husband, Mr. Hume, dying at sea, he showed 
all kindness to his niece, who became the wife of William Hoge. 
Dr. Johnstone resided at Amboy, and died there, September 6, 
1782, aged Beventy-three. His son Lewis married a daughter of 
Colonel Qeathcote, of Scarsdale Manor; and his son Andrew 
married Catharine Van Cortland. 

Makemie published "A Narrative of a New and Unusual Ame- 
rican Imprisonment of two Presbyterian Ministers, and Prosecution 
of Mr. Francis Makemie, one of them for preaching one sermon 
in the city of New York. By a learner of Law and a lover of 
Liberty.' 1 

This tract was reprinted, in 1755, by Hugh Gaine in New York, 
nnder the direction of Livingston, Smith, and other gentlemen, 
cone. ried in COnducti jig the "Watch Tower." In August, 17<J!», 

Dr. Znbly, of Savannah, sent a fragment of it to President Stiles, 
as likely to be of great service iii the cause of liberty, if brought 
before the public. 

The representations made to the British Government drew from 
Cornbury the following letter! to the Right Honourable the Lords 
Commissioners for Trades sad Plantations: — 

« Mv Lords i — 

•■ I tronble your lordships with these lines, to acquaint you that, 

00 the 17th 01 January, L706-6, a man of this town, one Jack- 



michaul, formerly of BflnpoWftd, Long Island. 
f Albany DooaoM 

; rranteribed for ""• from tho Albany Documents by Mr. Joel Hani 
printed, with my oonaent, iu Dr. Footo'i Bketohet of Virgiuia. 



308 FRANCIS MAKEMIE. 

son, came to acquaint me that two ministers were come to town, — 
one from Virginia and one from Maryland, — and that they de- 
sired to know when they might speak with me. I, being willing 
to show what civility I could to men of that character, ordered 
my man to tell Jackson, they should be welcome to come and dine 
with me. They came; and then I found, by the answers they 
gave to the questions I asked them, that one, whose name is 
Francis Mackensie, is a Presbyterian preacher settled in Vir- 
ginia ; the other, whose name is John Hampton, a young Presby- 
terian minister, lately come to settle in Maryland. They dined 
with me, and talked of indifferent matters. They pretended they 
were going towards Boston. They did not say one syllable to me 
of preaching here, nor did not ask leave to do it. They applied 
themselves to the Dutch minister for leave to preach in the Dutch 
Church in this town ; who told them he was very willing, provided 
they could get my consent. They never came- to me for it. They 
went likewise to the elders of the French Church : they gave them 
the same answer the Dutch had. All this while they never ap- 
plied themselves to me for leave, nor did they offer to qualify 
themselves as the law directs. But on the Monday following I was 
informed that Mackensie had preached on the day before at the 
house of one Jackson, a shoemaker in this town ; and that Hamp- 
ton had preached on Long Island ; and that Mackensie was gone 
over thither, with intent to preach in all the towns in that island, 
having spread a report thereto that they had a commission from 
the Queen to preach all along this continent. I was informed on 
the same day from New Jersey, that the same men had preached 
in several places in that province, and had ordained, after their 
manner, some young men, who had preached without it among 
the Dissenters ; and that, when asked if they had leave from the 
Government, they said they had no need of leave from any go- 
vernor ; that they had the Queen's authority for what they did. 
These reports, and the information I had from Long Island of 
their behaviour there, induced me to send an order to the sheriff 
of Queen's county to bring them to this place ; which he did on 
the 23d day of January, in the evening. The attorney-general 
was with me. I asked Mackensie how he came to preach in this 
government without acquainting me with it, and without qualify- 
ing himself as the law requires? He told me he had qualified 
himself according to law in Virginia ; and that, having done so, he 
would preach in any part of the Queen's dominions where he 
pleased ; that this province is part of the Queen's dominions as 
well as Virginia, and that the license he had obtained there was 
as good as any he could obtain here. 

" I told him, that Virginia was part of the Queen's dominions 
as well as this province, but that they are two different govern- 
ments, and that no law or order of that province can take place 



FRANCIS MAKEMIE. 309 

in this, any more than any order or law of this province can take 
place in that ; which no reasonable man would imagine could be 
allowed. Ik- told me he understood the law as well as any man, 
and was sari-tied he had not offended against the law; that the 
penal laws did not extend to, and were not enforced in, America. 
To which the attorney-general replied, that if the penal laws did 
not take place in America, neither did the Act of Toleration; 'nor 
is it proper,' said he, ' that it should, since the latter is no more 
than a suspension of the former.' Maekensie said, that the Queen 
granted liberty of conscience to all her subjects without reserve. 
1 told him he was bo far in the right; that the Queen was gra- 
ciously pleased to grant liberty of conscience to all her subjects 
except Papists ; that he might be a Papist for all I knew, under 
pretence of bring of another persuasion; and that, therefore, 
it was necessary that he should have satisfied the Government 
what he was. before he ventured to preach. He said he would 
qualify himself in any manner and would settle in this province. 
1 told him that, whenever any of the people in either of the pro- 
- under my government had desired leave to call a minister 
of theb own persuasion, they had never been denied; but that [ 
should be rery cautious how i allowed a man so prone to bid defi- 

ance to Government as I found he was. He said, he had done 

nothing lie could not answer. So I ordered the high-sheriff of 

this city to take them into custody, and 1 directed the attorney- 
general to proceed Against them as the law directs; which he has 

done, by preferring an indictment against Maekensie fir preach- 
ing in this city without qualifying himself as the Art of Toleration 
directs. The grand jury found the bill; but the petty jury ac- 
quitted him. So he has gone towards New England, ottering 
many Bevere threats against me. As I hope 1 have done nothing 

in this matter bat what 1 was obliged in duty to do, especially 

sine- I think it is very plain by the Act of Toleration it was let 
intended to tolerate or allow strolling preachers; hut only those 
persons who dissent from the Church of England should be at 

liberty to BOTVe God after their own way in the several places of 

their abode, without being liable to the penalties of certain laws. 

8 i I entreat your lordships' protection against this malicious man, 
who is well known in Virginia and Maryland to he a disturber of 

the peace and quiet Of all the phi..- in' COmefl into. He i-; Jack- 

of-au-trades ; he is a preacher, a doctor of physic, a merchant, an 
attorney, a oounsellor-at-law. and, which is worst of all, a dis- 
turber of governments. 1 should have Benl your lordships this 
account Booner, but I was willing to Bee the issue of the trial. 
•• 1 am, my lords, 

•■ Y'.ur lordships' most faithful, humble Bervant, 

••Nkw fOBX. Oct 



310 SAMUEL DAVIS. 

The result of his visit to Boston is not known. He died in the 
summer of 1708, leaving a widow and two daughters. Elizabeth 
survived him less than a year ; and his widow soon followed her to 
the grave. Anne married Mr. Holden, of Accomac, and died in 
1787, childless, leaving a large property.* 

Makemie left one hundred and twenty English books to his 
family; his law-books to Andrew Hamilton, Esq.,| and the rest 
of his library to Andrews and his successors in Philadelphia. He 
left four lots, with the buildings, to the Presbyterian congregation 
of Rehoboth, on Pocomoke, and to their successors ; but " to 
none else but to such as are of the same persuasion in matters of 
religion." 

His portrait was destroyed in the burning of Dr. Balch's house ; 
but his course of life portrays a man of learning, energy, talent, 
and public spirit. Dr. Miller, on the authority of Dr. Rodgers 
and of Dr. Read, of Wilmington, speaks of him as a man of emi- 
nent piety and strong intellectual powers, adding to force of 
talents a fascinating address, conspicuous for his natural endow- 
ments and his dignity and faithfulness as a minister of the 
gospel. His Catechism has escaped the researches of American 
collectors. 

He had two brothers in county Donegal (Ireland) alive at his 
decease. Andrews baptized Elizabeth, a child of Francis Ma- 
kemie, February 2, 1730. It was he, probably, who appeared as 
a commissioner from Warrington before Philadelphia Presbytery 
in May, 1739. 

In the Bishop of London's palace, at Lambeth, are letters from 
the Episcopal clergy in Maryland, stating that many fell away 
from them, by reason of the Dissenters in Makemie's day. 



SAMUEL DAVIS. 



He was next to Makemie in point of years, and, like him, en- 
gaged in trade. He was residing in Delaware in July, 1692, 



* "She gave by her will £100, to be disposed of yearly, for the support of a 
minister by the Session of Pitt's Creek, Maryland ; and £50, for the poor of that 
neighbourhood."— Sj<enre. 

f Was this Andrew Hamilton the father of James Hamilton, Governor of Penn- 
sylvania? Andrew was a distinguished lawyer of Philadelphia, whose argument 
in behalf of Zenger the printer, prosecuted by Governor Cosby, of New York, was 
published in England as a most valuable assertion of the rights of persons charged 
with libel. He died at his seat at Bush Hill, Philadelphia, August 4, 1741, at an 
advanced age. 



JOHN WILSON. 311 

when George Keith visited him. At the formation of the presby- 
tery he was prevented by business from performing the duties of 
a pastor; and, on the failure of the people of Lewes to obtain 
Mr. Golden from Scotland, he continued to supply them as much 
as the condition and posture of his affairs allowed. In 1715, 
he joined with them in their request to presbytery to have a 
minister settled over them. On Hampton's resignation of his 
charge, he removed to Snow Hill, and preached there probably till 
:h, in the summer of 1725. 

He was present in presbytery only in 1709, when he was chosen 
moderator. On the formation of the synod, he was appointed a 
member of Snow Hill Presbytery. Through the death of Henry, 
of Rehoboth, and the declining health of Hampton, it was not 
Organized. He and Hampton were not afterwards joined to any 
presbytery, because through sickness, business, and age, they could 
not attend at so great distance as the ordinary places at which 
Newcastle Presbytery met. 

Bpence, though residing at Snow Hill, seems never to have 
heard of him or his successor, Hugh Stevenson. 



JOHN WILSON. 



ONI of the correspondents of Increase Mather, in the seven- 

teenth century, mentions the arrival of a Mr. "Wilson in Con- 

nt, and expresses a desire that so acceptable a minister 

might settle in the colony. Whether this person was the one who 

for many yean iraja the minister of Newcastle is unknown. 

Among the "Colonial Documents"* at llarrisburg is one 
I by John Murray, in 1686, stating that William Huston, 

by hifl last will, gave three hundred acres on Christiana Creek, 

four or fire miles from Newcastle, to John Wilson and his suc- 
eessor. He asks the interposition of the Government, the land 
withheld by Anthony 1 [owston. 

.\- early ae 17 ir J, he preached in the court-housef at Newcastle, 
and. not being contented, removed. He returned in 1 7 o : '» ; which 
dissatisfied some, and made them anxious for the services of a 
Churchman. 

Be had no pastoral relation to thai congregation; and they 
were very anxious to secure BdoNish, and gave him a oall. The 
meeting-house at White Clay Creek was considered as a ohapel- 

•• l by Bamnel ffuard, Esq. 

f Tlillj >t, in I'o !'•■ I ue Bpiaoo] ti II: i I 



312 JEDEDIAH ANDREWS. 

of-ease, the people in that neighbourhood being regarded as part 
of Newcastle congregation. 

In 1708, the presbytery directed Wilson to preach alternately 
on the Sabbath at Newcastle and White Clay, and monthly on a 
week-day, and quarterly on a Sabbath, at Apoquinimy. 

In 1710, he was succeeded by Anderson at Newcastle, and 
probably devoted all his time to White Clay till his death, in 
1712. He conducted the presbytery's correspondence with divided 
or uneasy congregations, with Scotland, and with Sir Edmund Har- 
rison in London. 

His widow was recommended by the committee for the fund, 
in 1719, " as a person worthy of regard as to her present circum- 
stances;" ,£4 were given her; and a discretionary power was 
lodged with Andrews to give, if necessity required, <£3 more. She 
received £5 yearly till 1725. 



JEDEDIAH ANDREWS, 

Tiie son of Captain Thomas Andrews, was born at Hingham, 
Massachusetts, July 7, 1674, and baptized by the Rev. Peter Ho- 
bart five days after. He was the youngest but one of ten chil- 
dren. He graduated at Harvard in 1095. 

The disturbance caused by Keith, in Philadelphia, prepared the 
way for the commencement of religious services by Baptists, Pres- 
byterians, and Churchmen. There were nine Baptists, and a few 
Independents, in the town. After the " Barbadoes Company"' 
gave up their store, the building was used by the two denomina- 
tions in common whenever the service of a minister could be pro- 
cured. 

The Rev. John Watts, of the Baptist Church* in Penncpek, 
began, (on the second Sunday in December, 1697,) by request, to 
officiate at regular intervals. The Rev. Dr. Clayton, a Church 
minister, entered into an amicable correspondence with him, to 
effect a union with the national Establishment. In 1698, in the 
summer, Andrews came to Philadelphia ; and Watts and his 
friends, feeling uneasy at what seemed to them coldness, wrote to 
him, proposing that each congregation should unite in worship, 
whenever conducted by ministers of either body, acknowledged to 
be sound in the faith and of good repute : — 

* Morgan Edwards's History of Pennsylvania Baptists. There were nine 
Baptists in the town. 



JEDEDIAH ANDREWS. 313 

" We do freely confess and promise for ourselves that we can 
and do own and allow of your approved ministers, who are fully 
qualified and sound in the faith and of holy lives, to pray and 
preach in our assemblies." 

This letter, dated oOth of Eighth month, 1698, was addressed 
to Andrews. John Green, Joshua Story, and Samuel Richards. 

Andrews* replied : — 

u To the church of Christ, over which Mr. John Watts is pastor, 
we, whose names are under-toritten, do send salutation in the 
name of our Lord. ./, gut: — 

"Brethren and Well-beloved: — 

•• Forasmuch as some of you, in the name of the rest, have in a 
friendly maimer sent us your desire of uniting and communing in 
the things of God, as far as we agree in judgment, that we may 
lovingly go together heavenward, we do gladly and gratefully 
e your proposal, and return you thanks fir the same; and 
MeSB Grod who hath put it in your minds to endeavour after peace 

and concord, earnestly desiring that your request may have a 
good effect, which may be for the edification of us all, that we 
may the mure freely perform mutual offices of 'love one towards 

another' for OUT furtherance in Christianity. But that we may do 

what we do safely, and for our more effectual carrying on our fore- 
mentioned desire, we have thought it might be profitable for oa all, 

and more conducive to our future love and unity, that we might 

some friendly conference concerning those affairs before we 
; .11 a direel answer to your proposition, which we have confi- 
dence you will not deny. And in pursuance hereof we do request 

that Bome of you (who you think host) may meet with us, or some 
. at a time and place which you s 1 1 .- 1 1 1 appoint, that what we 
agree upon may he done in order. 

! tbscribed, in the name of the rest, Philadelphia, November 3, 

Jedbdlab Andrews. 
"John Green,! Saw el Rich lrds, 

David Cm i [NO, HERBERT CoBRT, 

.i"H. \ i . LjBab, Daniel Green." 

It was agreed to meet at the common meeting-house on the 

+ In B of Willi, Philadelphia, are recorded the teeta- 

t — 

Daniel Qreen, October 22, 1699. 

John Qreen, oordwainer, October I, 1711. 

i Qifflng, bricklayer, 1716. 
John v. in Lear, April 16, 17."J. 
I do not rtnl the oamea of Blohardi "r Cony. 



314 JEDEDIAH ANDREWS. 

19th of November. Three of the Baptists went from Pennepek 
to town, (Philadelphia,) and sent to Andrews's lodgings, which 
were near. But he said, " he knew it not to be the day, but took 
it to be the second day after." The Baptists waited for him and 
his friends till sunset. Watts went home, satisfied that the Pres- 
byterians had not acted " in sincerity, how godly soever their 
words may be." He, therefore, wrote to Andrews the same 
day :— 

" Necessity constrains us to meet apart from you till we can 
receive an answer, and are assured you can own us, so as we do 
you. We remain the same as before, and stand by what we have 
written. No more at present; but prayers for you, and dearest 
love to you in Christ Jesus." 

This conduct of the Presbyterians surely needs no such heavy 
censure as Edwards bestows, calling it " a dispossession unkind 
and rightless." The Baptists withdrew to the brew-house of 
Anthony Morris, " near the draw-bridge." Andrews soon after 
wrote to Thomas Revell at Burlington: — " Though we have got 
the Anabaptists out of the house, yet our continuance there is 
uncertain ; therefore must think of building, notwithstanding our 
poverty and the smallness of our number." He was probably 
ordained in Philadelphia, in the fall of 1701 ; for his " Record 
of Baptisms and Marriages" begins, 1701, Tenth month, 14th 
day. 

Talbot,* Church missionary at Burlington, writing to the 
"Venerable Society," April 24, 1702, says, — "The Presbyte- 
rians here come a great way to lay hands on one another ; but, 
after all, I think they had as good stay at home for all the good 
they do In Philadelphia, one pretends to be a Presbyte- 
rian, and has a congregation, to which he preaches." 

In 1704, they left the " Barbadoes Store," to worship in the 
church they had erected in Buttonwood [now Market] Street. 
Five adults were baptized in 1705 and four in 1706. 

He enters the baptism of his children thus : — 

"1707, Seventh month, 21. — Mary, daughter of Jedediah An- 
drews and Helena his wife. 

"1709, Third month, 28. — Ephraim, their son, (born January 28, 
1708-9,) baptized by Mr. Hampton." 

The church is said to have been of the Congregational order ; but 
it was represented by elders in presbytery from the first. An- 
drews was punctual in his attendance on every meeting ; being 
accompanied by Joseph Yardf for eight years, in 1716, by David 

* Hawkins's Missions of English Church. 

f Joseph Yard, bricklayer, made his will in May 16, 1716. John Snowden, a 
tanner, was the father of Jedediah Snowden, an early trustee of the Second Church, 
and the ancestor of Isaac (father of Gilbert) Tennent, Samuel Finley, and Xatha- 



JEDEDIAH ANDREWS. 815 

Giffing for six successive years, and frequently after by John 
Snowden, occasionally from 1723 by John Budd, and regularly 
from 1732 to 1746 by William Gray. 

In 1711, when Christ Church could not be used, the Presbyte- 
rians offered the use of their church to the vestry. They declined 
it, preferring the Swede Church at Wecaco. 

In 1714, £,\Q were allowed to Philadelphia out of the money 
sent by Mr. Reynolds of London, to " the support of God's work 
in these parts." 

The presbytery, in 1707, "for propagating the interest of reli- 
gion," directed each minister in his congregation to read and com- 
ment on a chapter of the Bible every Lord's day, as discretion and 
circumstances of time and place will admit. All the ministers but 
Andrews complied ; and in 1708 it was recommended to him to take 
into serious consideration the reading a chapter and making a com- 
ment on the same. His backwardness to read a chapter in public 
worship strongly illustrates his tenacity of New England habits. 
I position of the Scripture Avas to the other members of pres- 
bytery a mOBt important service of the sanctuary; in it they de- 
lighted, and perhaps excelled. The repugnance of the New Eng- 
land divines to it was as uniform as it was unaccountable. "When 
the new church was reared in Boston for Dr. Column, ancient men 
stood aghast at the report that a chapter was to be read from the 
Bible morning and afternoon ; they apprehended it to be a premo- 
nitory symptom of the Liturgical mania. The entries* in Chief 
Justice Swell's diary are curiously illustrative. In 1713, Dr. 
Colman bewailed, in one of his sermons, the prevailing neglect of 
tie- Scriptures in public worship. It is unlikely that Andrews ever 
conformed to the good old Presbyterian custom of expounding 
God's word. 

But he needed no urgency to comply with the suggestion to sup- 
ply the destitute. His record of baptisms is proof of his journey- 
Sopewell, Bensalem, Gloster, Salem, Burlington, Piles- 
. Rocky Hill, Ainhoy, and Staten Island. 

He irafl recording Clerk of tin- prcsliytery and of the synod 
till his death, conducted most of their correspondence, and was 

relied on as signally gifted and successful in terminating happily 
the disputes which, wedge-like, had been driven to the head in oon- 

infl ■nid among individuals. 

ions Loss that so few of his letters to Cotton Mather 
and Dr. Colman are preserved. Tradition says that the [nde- 

n in oar ohnroh John Badd wife an agent of the Propria* 
r the sale of land in Ken .!••■■■■;.. William Gray was a baker, and executor 
ii'-r with Peter Chevalier, Gray preserved the B 
ot Bapt ■'•■ u i Marriages, ud placed it in the hand* of Edward Shippen, Esq.. 
\ American yuurtrrly B rgirt eT 



316 JEDEDIAH ANDREWS. 

pendent mode was laid aside by him in 1720 ; — a strange time to 
do it, when the congregation were seeking aid from Boston to en- 
large their house. Nothing of the kind is hinted at in his letter 
to Colman in 1729, asking advice about his duty in relation to the 
Adopting Act. " As to affairs here, we are engaged in the en- 
largement of our house, and, by the assistance we had from Boston, 
I hope we shall go on comfortably with that work." 

Writing to the Rev. Thomas Prince, 14th of Eighth month, 1730, 
" I am continually longing to come and see my mother once more 
before she dies ; but, the journey being long and multiplicity of 
business continually taking me up, I am doubtful whether I shall 
get liberty to answer my desires." She died, Oct. 23, 1732, aged 
ninety-nine, — to the last, pretty quick to hear and see, — leaving 
two sons and two daughters. 

In September, 1733, he asked the synod " that an assistant be 
allowed unto him in the ministry." The request was unanimously 
granted, " if, first, sufficient provision be made for his honourable 
maintenance during his life among them." This, after long discourse, 
and after conference with some gentlemen of his congregation, was 
modified so as to allow the congregation to call an assistant. Those 
who desired an assistant were directed not to diminish but rather 
increase their subscriptions to Andrews, because the present sub- 
scription was but scanty ; that none of the present subscription be 
alienated from him, but that all care be taken to get new ones for 
him ; and that he have all the monthly collections. In the follow- 
ing May, the presbytery acceded to his request, and gave him 
leave to remove if he saw fit. In the autumn, Hemphill came to 
this country, was received as a member of synod, and took up his 
abode in Philadelphia until he should obtain a settlement. An- 
drews invited him to occupy his pulpit a part of each Sabbath, but 
soon regretted it ; for " freethinkers,* deists, and ?«o£Am#s," flocked 
to hear him, while the better part of the congregation stayed away. 
Andrews attended regularly during the winter, and felt himself 
bound "to article against him ;" and the commission tried Hemphill 
and suspended him. Andrews tells Colman that he had never suf- 
fered so much as during this period, and that his mind was made up 
to leave his charge, although " the better sort" desired to keep him. 

The congregation could not agree on an assistant ; but one part 
supplicated the synod for Dickinson, and another for Robert 
Cross. But while the matter was in debate, the friends of the lat- 
ter asked to be erected into a new congregation, capable to call a 
minister for themselves. Their request was granted by a large 
majority, with the understanding that they are not obliged to form 
a distinct society, but may do so if they see fit. 

* MS. Letter in Am. Antiq. Soc. Lib. 



JEDEDIAH ANDREWS. 317 

The commission met in June, 173G, the endeavours for a re- 
union of the congregation having been unsuccessful; they per- 
suaded the friends of Cross to make a further effort, and Andrews 
heartily approved of the design ; but his friends would not consent. 
The new erection had supplies till 1737, when Robert Cross ac- 
I their call; then the two congregations united, and were 
allowed ; £o0 out of the synod's funds to buy a burying-ground. 

Andrews remained with the Old Side on the division. In 1744, he 
wrote to Column that Tennent was much more moderate and left 
him a 

At the close of a long, active, useful, and honourable life, a 
rumour was spread that Andrews had suddenly fallen by a disgrace- 
ful act. lie was put on trial ; and his own hands recorded his 
Btatement of the mat tor, — his denial of drunkenness, criminal in- 
tent or act, and his confession of imprudence and foolish tamper- 
ing with evil. He deplores the shame brought on the ministry, by 
a levity so unbecoming his advanced life. No testimony appears 
to have been adduced; and he closes his labours as clerk of pres- 
bytery by recording that the sentence of suspension was passed on 
him. In a few months he Was restored, and very soon after ended 
hi.- day-. 1 le made his will July 31, 1742, being in declining health ; 
25, 1747. He left his property to his widow 
during her life; and, in case his only son should die without issue, all 
should go to John, in Boston, son of his brother Benjamin. His 
library consisted of -It;:) volumes, — 58 folios, 78 quartos, 4~> octavos. 

Franklin,* in his .Memoirs, says that he regularly paid his sub- 
r the support of the only Presbyterian minister or meet- 
ing we had. "He used to visit me sometimes as a friend, and 
nish me to attend his ministrations; I was now ami then 
don to do so; once for five Sundays successively. Had he 
in my opinion, a good preacher, perhaps 1 might have con- 
tinued, notwithstanding tin casion 1 had for the Sunday's lei- 
sure in my c lurse of study; but his discourses were chiefly either 

polemic arguments, or explications of the peculiar doctrines of our 

ml were all to me wry dry, uninteresting, and unedifying, 

i ungle moral principle was inculoated or enforced; 

their aim Beeming to be rather to make ua Presbyterians than good 

At length lie took for his text, Phil. iv. 8: — 'Finally, 

brethren, whatsoever things are true, honesty just, pure, lovely, or 

I Drt, if there he any virtue or any praise, think on these 



1 | Mercury, Jane 12, 1729, repre- 

bad i d drawn i i the preacher at Christ Churob 

; . meeting : — 

■• (Tow «in I guard agatnil m; morning*! fell; 
■..a bar* it .ill. 



318 GEORGE McNISH. 

things.' I imagined, in a sermon on such a text, we could not miss 
of having some morality. He confined himself to five points only, a8 
meant by the apostle : — Keeping holy the Sabbath day, Being dili- 
gent in reading the Scriptures, Attending duly the public worship, 
Partaking of the sacraments, and Paying due respect to God's 
ministers. These all might be good things ; but, as they were not 
the kind of good things I expected from that text, I despaired of 
ever meeting with them from any other, was disgusted, and attended 
his preaching no more. On Hemphill's defeat, (in 1735,) I quitted 
the congregation, never attending it further, though continuing my 
subscription many years for the support of its ministers." 



NATHANIEL TAYLOR 



Was probably ordained in Scotland in 1702 or '3, and came imme- 
diately to Marlborough, on the Patuxent. The settlement was made 
in 1690, by Col. Ninian Beall, who purchased a large tract on the 
Potomac and drew thither his friends and neighbours from Fifeshire. 

The mouth of Patuxent was a great commercial emporium ; — 
There George Fox and Edmundson anchored in 1651 ; and there 
Chalkley and Richardson, who followed them as Public Friends, 
left the ship. 

Taylor was a punctual attendant on every meeting of presbytery 
till his death in 1710. His elder in 1707 was William Smith ; and, 
in 1708 and '09, James Bell (Beall ?) 

Mr. Foot, of Port Penn, supposes him to have been related to the 
Taylors,* who, as early as 1683, settled at Drawyers. He may have 
been a brother of Elias Taylor, who married Makemie's sister-in- 
law, Comfort Anderson. 



GEORGE McNISH 

Came to Maryland with Makemie and Hampton in 1705. Dr. 
Reid says that he was from Ulster ; but Mr. Poyer,f of Jamaica, 
calls him a North Briton. He preached at Monokin and Wico- 
mico; but, being poorly supported, he declined their call in 1710. 
The presbytery left it to himself to determine the affair between 

* Historical Discourse at Drawyers. f Albany Documents. 



GEORGE McXISH. 319 

Jamaica and Patuxent, but advised him not to delay fixing him- 
self somewhere. 

Makemie states that there was, at the time of his trial, a Dis- 
senting minister at Jamaica by a " during-pleasure license" from 
Cornbury.* The chiefs of the sect petitioned Lord Lovelace on 
his assuming the chair of State ; but his untimely death occurred 
before it was answered. " No sooner was his Majesty pleased to 
remove Col. Ingoldsby, he having administered the government 
from the death of Lovelace in 1709, but the very next day (April 11, 
17 1") the more violent of that sect took possession of the church, 
and detained it against the justice. He committed them. They 
were released on bail, fined three shillings each, and the fines were 
remitted." 

On Governor Hunter's arrival, "the two great patrons of the 
sect" waited on him, and, in the presence of Colonel Morris, dis- 
cussed the Mini-try Act of 1693; but he gave them no encourage- 
ment, lie, however, removed some who were in the Commission 
of the Peace, and substituted, unintentionally, some who were not 
Churchmen. This drew on him the anger of the clergy, who sent 
many strong representations against him to the crown. To answer 
them, he sent minute specifications of his zeal, energy, and libe- 
rality in behalf of the English Church in New York and the 
Jerseys. 

The Presbyterians, on the day the Church missionary was ex- 
pected in town, entered the parsonage and dispossessed Mr. Urqu- 
hart's widow, with her connivance; for her daughter by her first 
husband was married to the Rev. Benjamin "Woolsey, an Inde- 
pendent, at that time a student of theology. She was soon admitted 
H a tenant of the congregation. In the spring of 1710, the 
chnrchwardens and vestry, being all Independents, called "one 
Mr. George McNish, an itinerant Dissenting minister;" but, at 
the governor's order, Bar. Poyer was inducted, by Mr. Sharp, 
chaplain of the forces, Hunter advised Poyer to sue for the 
parsonage and Ins stipend, promising the use of his purse, and 
offering to hear the whole expense of the suit. The clergy in New 
York, N- a Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Delaware, advised to the 
contrary, and joined n a complaint to the Bishop of London, got 
up with all tgainst the governor, for having "lately ad- 

..i,.» were professed implacable enemies of tho 
Church, in the room of men of character, who were actually doing 

justice to the Church;" and also for QOt having "written to the 

judges to enforce them in their duty." The governor had con- 
sulted with Chief-Justice Mompessom, who said that any attempt 
to put Poyer in possessioD of the parsonage, without due course of 

* Lottcrs to the Venerablo Socioty: quoted by MucluiiaM in History of Ju- 



320 • GEORGE McNISH. 

law, would be a high crime and misdemeanour. He wrote in his 
defence to the Venerable Society; and his statements were fully 
sustained by Lewis Morris, Esq., Colonel Heathcote, and Mr. 
Sharp, the chaplain. Mr. Yesey, of New York, and Mr. Hen- 
derson, of Dover, Delaware, were chiefly zealous in getting up this 
petition, Poyer being a weak man and used as a tool by Yesey. 
The petition of the clergy prevailed ; and her Majesty, in council, 
granted them leave to appeal in any suit, without limitation of 
sum, to the governor and council of the province. The petition 
was resented by Hunter and his friends; and the Bishop of Lon- 
don wrote, May 12, 1712, to Poyer: — 

"I must now entreat you for the future to have a care of foolish 
and unwary advisers. Pray, therefore, think your governors to 
be wiser than yourself; and, if you miscarry under that conduct, 
you will come off with reputation, for I must tell you that your 
application over into England has done you and your brethren no 
great service. Be wiser, therefore, for the time to come. 

"The clergy," says Morris, "are a gigg (agog) to be meddling 
with politics, — an inclination I wish our missionaries had less of." 
"All the Assembly which passed the Act of 1693 were Dissenters, 
except the speaker, (James Grahame, a relative of the Marquis of 
Montrose.) They knew nothing of the Church, and intended to raise 
a maintenance for a Dissenting minister. The act, without wrest- 
ing, will admit a construction in favour of Dissenters. 

"There is no comparison of our numbers anywhere but in the 
city of New York. I believe, at this day, the Church had been in 
a much better condition, had there been no act in her favour ; for 
in the Jerseys and Pennsylvania, where there is none, there are 
four times the number of Churchmen there are in New York, and 
most of them are so upon principle ; whereas nine parts in ten of 
ours will add no great credit to whatever church they are of. Yet 
the poor man Poyer and his friends, are weak enough to think 
their superiors in England will enter into measures to displace the 
governor, for not dragooning in their favour, as his predecessor 
did." 

The church was wrested from the Presbyterians ; but McNish, 
on accepting the call, was put by the town in possession of the 
parsonage and glebe, and the stipend fixed by the Act of 1693 was 
raised and paid to him. 

Poyer complained, in 1713, that the governor had appointed 
one Baird, a North Briton and a Dissenter, high-sheriff; and he, 
though ordered by the justices, refused to thrust out the tenant 
whom the town had placed in the parsonage. 

The Venerable Society obtained from the Dissenting ministers, 
Robinson and Reynolds, the letter of Cotton Mather in relation to 
Jamaica ; and, having seen the statements on both sides, agreed to 
pay Poyer 's expenses in an ejectment suit and in an action for the 



GEORGE MaNISH. 321 

stipend. Ho commenced suit in 1716, and recovered of the church* 
wardena £16 lis. 3*2., and "proceeded to* such lengths that several 
of the principal inhabitants were harassed with severe persecutions, 
heavy fines, and long imprisonment; others fled out of the pro- 
vince, to avoid the rage of Episcopal cruelty." Their steadfastness 

tigmati?ed as obstinacy; and "they are encouragedf in it by 
their minister, a very designing man, who persuades them to what 
he will." The Venerable Society were gravely informed that the 
miller refused to grind rover's grain, saying he might eat it whole, 
H the hogs did; and the society, in consideration of his many 
hardships, sent him a gown, a cassock, and ten pounds. 

ore McNish came, the people had unanimously, at their own 

expense, built a meeting-house. In this he preached during his life. 

Governor Hunter sent to the clergy in the province, copies of 

the 7:M article of the Queen's instructions, requiring the vestry of 

each parish to admit the minister as a member of their body, and 

to transact no business without his presence. In January, 1713, 

Poyer met with the vestry and produced the instructions. McNish 

was with them; and they refused to do any business till Poyer re- 

This was duly represented to the governor and the society. 

The Rev. Thomas Reynolds, of London, J wrote to Cotton 

Mather, June 9, 1715, "I must now acquaint you that Mr. 

McNish has not been forgotten by me, who have endeavoured, 

upon all occasions, to solicit the concern of the foreign plantations, 

and have stirred up my brethren to counteract the designs of the 

maries. Endeavours have been used and much time Bpent 
for this purpose. The society proceeds, and is not without hopes 

■ling bi.-liops to be sent into his Majesty's plantations." lie 

that an agent be sent over; "and that if Mr. McNish or 

any other can send any thing which may afford matter of* further 

remonstrance to the Bociety, we pray he will do it with all expe- 
dition, and with authentic testimonials." 

Iii the fall of 171 s . there was "a prospect of his going to 
Britain on important business;" but he did not go. 

Pumry, of Newtown, having joined the presbytery, and the con- 
ithampton having come under its care, it was, on 
the erection of the synod, earnestly recommended to McNish and 
Pumry to use their besl endeavours, with their neighbouring 
brethren, to form a presbytery. In this they were successful; 
and, with the Rev. George Phillips, of Setaukct, they constituted 
the Presbytery of Lone Island, and probably held their first 
ing April 17. 1717, and ordained Gelston. 

There fa a tradition that he had a grant <<[' one thousand acres 



■ l: • r. I"-. I 

t Mr. Pqyer t., the \ [ety. ♦ Mutlicr BfSS. Am. Ant 

21 



322 JOHN HAMPTON. 

from the King on the "VYallkill in Orange county. Eager mentions 
him among the land-owners in 1721. 

He died March 10, 1722, leaving one son, who married* a daugh- 
ter of Joseph Smith, of Jamaica, and removed to New Jersey, where 
he was educated and licensed ; and whether ever ordained is not 
ascertained. He resided in Orange county, New York, and, in 
1738, married Mary Fitch. He died at Wallkill, at the age of 
sixty-five, in 1779. His descendants remain there. Hef preached 
at Newtown, Long Island, between 1744 and '46. 

McNish gave reasons in 1716 for the absence of his elder. He 
was attended at synod in 1717, by John Rhodes, and in 1720 by 
Daniel Smith. 



JOHN HAMPTON. 



Whether he was a native of Scotland or Ireland is unknown. 
Lord Cornbury speaks of him as "a young Presbyterian minister 
lately come to settle in Maryland." He made application to Somer- 
set Court to be qualified, in Jan. 1706 ; the matter was referred to 
the governor, and he went northward with Makemie, and, having 
preached at Newtown on Sabbath in "a meeting-house offered to 
record," was arrested with Makemie and carried before Cornbury. 
He remained silent until the governor began to make out an order 
for his commitment, when he demanded a license to preach, accord- 
ing to the Toleration Act. Cornbury refused, and sent him to 
prison. 

He was not indicted, the attorney-general having dropped his 
name when the matter was laid before the grand jury. 

He was called to Snowhill in March, 1707, the salary to be paid 
in tobacco. He was "inaugurated" by McNish. 

He was long in feeble health, and visited his native country in 
1717 for his recovery ; and the synod, in the following fall, accepted 
his demission of the pastoral care of his people, because he could 
not perform his duty to them "without apparent hazard of his life 
through bodily indisposition." 

He made his will! October 28, 1719, and died before February, 
1721. His widow (probably his second wife) survived him and her 
two previous husbands, Colonel Francis Jenkins and Rev. John 
Henry, and died in 1744. 

He also served Pitt's Creek; and the united congregations were 

* Macdonald. f Hiker's History of Newtown. % Spence. 



JOHN EOTD — JOSEPH SMITH. 323 

represented in 1709 by William Fosset ; in 1710, by Benjamin Aid? 
lett,* (Aydelotte;) in 1711, by Adam Spence; in 1714, by Samuel 
Hopkins; in 1715, by Nathaniel Hopkins; and in 1718, by Ed- 
mund Cropper. 



JOHN BOYD, 



A native of Scotland, came as a probationer, probably at the 
solicitation of his countrymen, who, fleeing from persecution, settled 
in Monmouth between 1GS0 and '90. AVodrow is said to have cor- 
responded with the Scots in Jersey. 

He was ordained by the Presbytery of Philadelphia, December 
2'.*, 1706, at the public meeting-house, before a numerous assem- 
bly, lb' had QO call, but laboured at Freehold and Middletown. 
lountry around Upper Freehold was, at that time, a Avilderness 
full of savages.f 

The people of Freehold wrote to the presbytery, about the settle- 

ment of Mr. Boyd, in May, 1708, and the presbytery requested 

them to consent to his preaching every third Sabbath at Wood- 

He died in 1708, and his tomb remains to this day, while 

Makemie and the other ministers, most of them, lie in unknown 

graves. 



JOSEPH SMITH. 



1 v Connecticut, the ancient barriers of Independency were swept 
away a- by an ice-freshet. The legislature called synods to ad- 
judicate; but every Btep only led further from the rigid mode of 

Beparating the world from all participation in the government and 



* The aydeloUe family ere Mill members, of our Qhnrdfa m Pitt's Creek. Aden) 
Bpenec, - <>f Knowhili, .■nine iVmn Scutlund daring the 

I ition ; the Ute [rring Spa wu Ms descendant, t" irl i ire owe moon, P r 

liis gathering many Interesting materials of our early history. Nathaniel H 
stands at tin- bead of the li-t <>r elders, Indicating bis rank in society, Edmund 
Cropper U mentioned as ettendin tery. 

f- Morgan Bdwar I New Jersey. Colonel Morris says thai 

ma !'• the first wtl ement in Freehold; he preached several timet srbena mi 

aemns, in Freehold. The i ■■■.,- probably represented by John 



824 JOSEPH SMITH. 

privileges of the church, and their children from the sacrament of 
baptism. A pacification was agreed on ; but the Lord's Supper was 
not celebrated for a long time in Hartford, and it was esteemed an 
offence that the aggrieved brethren sought a dismission to another 
church. It was grievous to the ruling powers that those who could 
not walk with the church of Hartford were treated as brethren in 
good standing by the church of Wethersfield. This led to the pur- 
chase of a large tract on the Connecticut, in Massachusetts, and to 
the unanimous engagement of the proprietors, in the spring of 1659, 
to remove thither with their families. Besides a larger number 
from Hartford, the minister of Wethersfield, Mr. Russell, with 
twelve heads of families, removed. Among them were Samuel 
Smith, and Philip his son, both men of good estate. Philip mar- 
ried Rebecca, daughter of Nathaniel Foote, one of the early set- 
tlers of Wethersfield. " He* was largely employed in the affairs of 
the town, a lieutenant of the troop, and, which crowns all, a man 
for devotion, sanctity, and all that was honourable, exceeding ex- 
emplary. Labouring under ischiatick pains, he seemed ripening 
apace for another world, filled with grace and joy to a high degree. 
Such was his weariness of, and his weanedness from this world, that 
he knew not whether he might pray for his continuance here. 
Such assurance had he of the love of God, that he would cry out, 
in raptures, ' Lord, stay thy hand ; it is enough ! it is more than 
thy frail servant can bear!' Such a man was, in the winter of the 
year 1684, murdered, with a hideous witchcraft, that filled, all those 
parts of New England with astonishment." 

Joseph, son of Philip Smith, was born at Hadley, in 1674, and 
graduated at Harvard, in 1695. About two years after, he married 
Esther, daughter of Cornet Joseph Parsons, one of the first settlers 
of Springfield. He preached for a time at Brookfield, Massachu- 
setts, and came early in 1708 to Cohanzy, in West Jersey, at the 
instance of his college classmate, Andrews, who said they were 
"the best people in this neighbourhood." 

The settlement on Cohanzy was made from Fairfield county, 
Connecticut, and they named their new homes Fairfield and Green- 
wich, after the towns from which they came. It is said the church 
was formed in 1700, and supplied by Mr. Black. The Rev. Thomas 
Bridge preached at Cohanzy in 1702 or '03, and was called from 
there to be colleague to Mr. Bradstreet, in the First Church in 
Boston. He came to Boston in 1682,fwith testimonials from John 
Owen, Matthew Mead, and six other divines ; he soon after settled 
at Port Royal, in Jamaica, and then in New Providence and Ber- 
muda. He died in Boston, September 16, 1715, aged fifty-eight. 

* Quoted from Mather's Magnalia, in the genealogy of the Foote family, by my 
honoured and indefatigable friend, N. Goodwin, Esq., of Hartford. 

-j- MSS. in Massachusetts Historical Society: Funeral Sermon of Mr. Bridge. 



JOHN HEXRY. 325 

Smith was ordained and installed at Cohanzy in 1708; but, com- 
plaining of the negligence in making up his support, he left, and 
returned to New England. The presbytery ordered him to go to 
Hopewell and Maidenhead and confer with them on such matters 
as may be propounded to him by them, concerning his being called 
to be their minister. 

He preached for a short time at Greenwich, Connecticut, and 
about 1713 was called to the Second Society, in Middletown, Con- 
necticut, (commonly known as Upper Houses,) then newly formed; 
and was installed January 5, 1715, and died there September 8, 
1736, aged sixty-two. His widow survived him twenty-five years, 
and died May 30, 1760, in her eighty-ninth year. 

He left a son, Joseph, and two daughters, Mary, the wife of 
Rev. Samuel Tudor, of East Windsor, and Martha, the wife of 
Richard Hamlin] of Middletown. 



JOHN HENRY 



WAS Ordained by the Presbytery of Dublin, and came to Mary- 
land in IT 11 '- 1 , having been invited, on the death of Makemie, to 
be bis successor. He was admitted a member <>f presbytery in 
1710, having given good satisfaction by testimonials. Mr. Pierce 
Bray presented a call tor him "from the good people of Reho- 
both;" and Hampton and Davis preached at bis "admission." 

"lie* stood high as a citizen and a divine. lie left a strongly- 

bound octavo volume of manuscript, entitled 'Commonplace,' of 
from three hundred t<> five hundred pages. It was a mass of reli- 
gious instruction, enforcing the prominent doctrines of the West- 
minster Confession in their length ami breadth, and urging the 
performance of every christian duty. It was made up with great 
car.', aiid was more legible than many printed volumes. 

••lb- married Mary, tin- daughter of Sir Robert King, the agent 
of Maryland in L690, and the widow of Colonel Francis Jenkins,t 
who, with herself was the executor of Makemie's will, and who 
died childless. Henry left two sons, both men of distinction, — 
: Jenkins Henry being Judge of the Provincial Court in 
1754, and residing in Somerset, Colonel John Henry sitting in 
tin' House of I '• r county. ( >ne of his de- 



f Colonel J< ig then very old. Ho 

died before 171". 



326 JAMES ANDERSON. 

scendants was Governor of Maryland, and was educated under 
Samuel Finley, at Nottingham. 

"His will is dated October 15, 1715; lie died before September, 
1717." 

The elder from Rehoboth, in 1710, was Pierce Bray ; in 1718, 
John Dridden, (Dryden,) whose descendants still reside there. 



JAMES ANDERSON 

Was* born in Scotland, November 17, 1678, and was ordained 
by Irvine Presbytery, November 17, 1708, with a view to his settle- 
ment in Virginia. f He sailed March 6, 1709, and arrived in the 
Rappahannock, April 22 ; but, the state of things not warranting his 
stay, he came northward, and was received by the presbytery, Sep- 
tember 20. He settled at Newcastle. 

He was directed to write, in conjunction with Wilson, to the 
Synod of Glasgow ; and the application was answered by sending 
hither Wotherspoon and Gillespie. 

In 1714, out of regard to the desolate condition of the people in 
Kent county, he was directed to supply them monthly on a Sab- 
bath, and also to spend a Sabbath at Cedar Creek, in Sussex. 

An effort seems to have been made, after the acquittal of Ma- 
kemie, to have the city of New York supplied with a minister of 
our church. VeseyJ wrote to a friend December 2, 1709, " that 
the Dissenting preacher is likely to gain no ground." His stay 
was brief; but the people kept together, and met for worship, with 
few interruptions, and with a gradual increase of numbers, till 
1716, when they took measures to form a regular congregation. 
The next year found them strong enough to undertake the support 
of a minister, being doubtless encouraged by promises from the mi- 
nisters of Glasgow. They presented§ their call for Anderson, by the 
hands of Mr. Thomas Smith and Mr. Gilbert Livingston, to New- 
castle Presbytery during the first meeting of synod. They con- 
sidered the matter, and. having heard Anderson's reasons for re- 
moval, referred it to the synod : a large committee was appointed 
to meet at Newcastle and "audit" the objections of his people and 
fully determine the affair. The commissioners attended the com- 
mittee, and Anderson was allowed to accept the call. 

Public worship was held in the City Hall. The original friends 



* Miller's Life of Rodgers. f Anderson to Principal Stirling, of Glasgow. 

I Albany Documents. \ MS. Records of Newcastle Presbytery. 



JAMES ANDERSON. 6ZI 

of Presbyterianism seem all to have passed away. Prominent 
among their successors were Patrick Macknight, Dr. John Nicoll, 
Gilbert Livingston, Thomas Smith, "William Smith, and William 
Livingston. 

The bold, free, handsome signature of P. Macknight, at the 
head of the representatives, indicates his position as a merchant 
and a man of property. He was from the North of Ireland. 
Dr. Nicoll waa a graduate of Edinburgh University, — a physician 
of eminence; he died October 2, 1743, aged sixty-four. Gilbert 
Living-ton was the youngest son of Robert Livingston, son of the 
venerable minister of Ancrum, — and was the grandfather of Dr. 
Gilbert R. Livingston, of Philadelphia. William Livingston was 
the nephew of Robert, and father of the Governor of New Jersey. 
Thomas Smith was from England: he lived to an advanced age. 
William Smith was a native of Newport-Pagnel, in England, and 
came to New York in 1715 in the same ship with James Alexander, 
who, like Smith, became distinguished as a lawyer and an opponent 
of an arbitrary executive, lie was afterwards a judge, and a mem- 
ber of the King's Council. 

In 171*, Dr. Nicoll, Macknight, Gilbert Livingston, and Thomas 

Smith purchased a lot on Wall Street, near Broadway, and, in 

the following year, built a church. Besides the donations in the 

the Legislature of Connecticut directed a collection to be 

taken up throughout the colony for their benefit. 

Cotton Mather* wrote to Dr. Nicoll (January 20, 1719-20) the 
following letter " to be communicated:" — 

k - Brethren : — 

" We are very sensibly touched with grief at the information 
yon give ns of the strange difficulties under which your evan- 
gelical affairs are Labouring. But, since it is from you only we 
Dave been informed of them, this gives us a little hope they may 
QOt grow to the extremity you may be afraid of. The opposition 
your work Buffers from the great adversary is but an argument 
is d work of God; and if you keep Looking up to Him, who 

Lfl infinitely Stronger than he that is in the world, yon may soon 

lee all the opposition happily conquered. But it would be a wis- 
dom in the opposers to consider seriously who and what they may 
ting for. As for os, we have never yel had any disadvanta- 
represantations of worthy Mr. Anderson mad,- tons ; nor shall 
we receive any thing to hi.- disadvantage withoul firsf giving him 
and yon an opportunity of vindication. May the glomus Lord, 

* Hatha MSfi American antiquarian Boolety. Wodrow wrote to Slather, 
1718, "i praenmo to give my Idndeel regard! to Mr Jam< Inder- 
i! to bear of the condition of our brethren 

ad, and thereabout*.— Wt 



328 JAMES ANDERSON. 

who knows the services and patience of his ministers, be near his 
faithful minister, — a God of patience first and then of consolation. 
It has been a trouble to us that we have been able to do so little 
among our people for your assistance in your laudable design of 
erecting an edifice for the worship of God." 

Macknight and Nicoll, with Joseph Blake, John Leddel, and 
Thomas Inglis, representatives of the congregation, wrote (May 9, 
1720) a letter* of thanks to the Governor, Lieutenant-Governor, 
Members of Council, and Representatives of the General Court 
of Connecticut. A twelvemonth before, they had applied to their 
honours, " for a brief for a general and voluntary contribution for 
assisting in building our house of worship, which, being begun, we 
could not finish without the charitable aid of others ; which was 
cheerfully and readily granted. Now, with rejoicing, we crave 
leave to acquaint this assembly that, by the assistance we ex- 
perienced from Connecticut, we were not only encouraged to go 
on with our begun building, — which otherwise was like to drop 
and go to ruin, — but were able also to get it under roof, so that 
now with joy we enjoy the ordinances dispensed to us therein. 
We heartily thank you for your opportune, free, and voluntary 
liberal aid to a small despised handful, which, we hope, designs 
nothing else but the honour of the glorious Lord and the eternal 
good of their souls and their children's." The sum raised in Con- 
necticut was less than they expected, — " the charity of some 
having been cooled by false and malicious reports dispersed 
through the colony. However, we do not blame anybody but 
' the accuser of the brethren,' who hath indeed all along opposed 
the good work with the utmost malice. But this does not in the 
least discourage us, but rather demonstrates to us that the work 
is God's, who, as he has brought it this length, will undoubtedly 
finish it in opposition to Satan and all his instigations." 

The congregationf petitioned the King's Council (March 4, 
1719-20) to incorporate, by letters-patent under the great seal 
of the province, the ministers, elders, and deacons of the Presby- 
terian congregation in the city of New York. They style them- 
selves Scots, from North Britain, and state, that they have 
erected a house for the worship of God after the manner of the 
Presbyterian church. They urge their request on the ground of 
the great inconvenience of vesting the title to their property in 
certain individuals, which they must do until incorporated. This 
application was signed by Anderson and the five representatives. 
The president of the council was Peter Schuyler; the members, 
A. Depeyster, Rip Van Dam, John Barberie, Thomas Byerly, and 

* MSS. in Secretary of State's Office, Hartford. 

f Case of the Scots Presbyterian Congregation in New York. 



JAMES ANDERSON. 329 

John Johnston. The vestry of Trinity Church appeared by coun- 
sel to oppose, and the request was refused. 

On the 19th of September, they renewed their petition, — Go- 
vernor Burnet* being come to the province and appearing friendly. 
With him there was a discrepancy between appearance and inten- 
tion. He was for the Church, right or wrong, by fair means or 
foul: he rent the French congregation by his illegal interference, 
and deceived the Presbyterians by much fair speech. 

The council were, A. D. Philipse, George Clarke, Robert "Wal- 
ter, Caleb Heathcote, and John Byerly, — probably all Church- 
men. Counsel was heard on both sides; and the council declined 
to act, because no instance had occurred of granting corporate 
privileges to a body of Dissenters. 

Their petition, dated May 10, 1724, was transmitted to the 
"Lords of Trade;" and the Attorney-General for Ireland, Rich- 
ard West, gave his opinion that, in the general and abstract view 
of the thing, there was nothing in the request unreasonable or 
improper. 

On the 16th of May, 1730, the church was completed, being 
eighty feet long by sixty feet wide. 

The Synod of Glasgow and Ayr, in 1719, invested a collection 
in goods, and sent them to New York. The Synod of Phila- 
delphia gave a tenth of the nett produce to aid in the support of 
Anderson, and sent to their Scottish friends "hearty thanks for 
their kindness to the interest of religion in these wilderness 
parts." 

The letters to Boston ami Connecticut had referred to malicious 
reports, widely dispersed, against Anderson, and which had cooled 
the charity of some towards the infant church. Gilbert Living- 
ston and Thomas Smith were much dissatisfied, and complained to 
nod of tin' Presbytery of Long Island in regard to the 
Settlement of Anderson. The synod heard their representations, 
and, by a large majority, decided that tho proceedings were regu- 
lar. The two gentlemen also complai I of two sermons of An- 

ere read, and approved as orthodox and godly in 

Bubstance, though the terms in some passages were not so mild 

and Boft as they could have wished. Dr. Niooll was present in 

■I elder; Andrews and Dickinson wrote to Livingston 

and Smith; Jones, Gillespie, and Evans wrote to the congre- 
gation. 

I gentlemenf petitioned the councD not to grant oorporate 
privileges to the congregation, as this would confirm the property 



* The f tin' Presbyterian Iftiniatei k and Long [aland" 

to Urn in ••■ ' i high o plimenl bo bia (ataer'a memory, lbs 

■in/. 

| Documentary Hi cork, third Tolome. 



330 JAMES ANDERSON. 

to Anderson and those who adhered to him. They asked that 
they might be released from the bonds which they, jointly with 
Macknight and Nicoll, had given for the land and the building, 
as Macknight was about to go to Europe, and they had experience 
enough of Nicoll's instability and other faults. 

The matter was not healed. The source of the difficulty is 
wholly to be guessed at. Andrews calls it " a squabble."* 

The trustees of New Haven College sent missionaries, at the 
request of Smith, to erect a new congregation. The synod (in 
1721) approved of the action of Long Island Presbytery; but, 
having received a letter from the trustees, desiring the synod to 
send some of their number to confer with them on the interest of 
religion in general and the unhappy difference in New York, the 
synod directed the presbytery to meet with them. The conference 
was held at Stamford, in October, but was fruitless. The synod 
approved of the presbytery's management of the affair.f 

Jonathan Edwards,J barely nineteen, preached to Smith and 
his friends from August, 17-2, till April 26. He loved to re- 
member the pleasant days spent there, and his delight in the so- 
ciety of the pious Madam Smith and her son, — probably the Rev. 
John Smith, of Rye. 

The separation terminated on Edwards's departure. 

In the "Antiquarian Library" at Worcester, Massachusetts, is 
a letter from Rebecca Nicoll, to Cotton Mather, (May 23, 1723,) 
representing that the whole difficulty lies with Smith, and Grant 
and his son, and intimating that they were unreasonable. They 
" had a meeting by themselves ; but most of Grant's family went 
to the English church." Mr. Grant reports, " that the Boston 
ministers engage £60 yearly to aid the separate meeting. "VVe 
have a faithful pastor, as all who know Mr. Anderson acknow- 
ledge him to be. It is a shame to send aid to humour a part of 
two families. Madam Smith has a letter, confirming the report 
of aid. Ten of the people are very scandalous. Mr. Jephson 



* The narrative given in the preface to the Records of the Trustees of the Con- 
gregation was drawn up twenty years after by William Smith, who takes no notice 
of this original difficulty between " the undertakers," but refers solely to the sub- 
sequent difficulty between Dr. Nicoll and the minister, and presents the view taken 
of the matter by Dr. Nicoll. Dr. Rodgers has added a marginal note, that Ander- 
son was a graceful, popular preacher, and a worthy man. 

f Morgan to Mather, October 31, 1722 : — " Our synod have justified all that the 
Long Island Presbytery have done in the affair of New York. I only stood up and 
dissented ; more would, but have been mistrusted to have had a hand in setting up 
the separate meeting ; but all knew that I was against that being set up, for I look 
upon it as a very hurtful thing." — American Antiquarian Society. 

J Immediately on being licensed, in consequence of an application from a num- 
ber of ministers, who were intrusted to act in behalf of the Presbyterians of New 
York, he went thither. "I had," Edwards says, " abundance of sweet religious 
conversation in the family of Madam Smith." After leaving, " sometimes I felt 
my heart ready to sink with the thoughts of my friends in New York." 



JAMES ANDERSON. 331 

and his family have returned to us. Her excuse for writing was, 
'having been one of jour flock.' " 

Dr. Nicoll took a voyage to Scotland, and engaged the General 
ibly to assist them; and, by their order, a large collection 
WBS taken up. 

New troubles were in store for Anderson ; the representatives 
and elders complaining of Dr. Nicoll to the presbj'tery and synod. 
Without consulting the representatives, (trustees,) he had applied 
to the payment of the church debt, the money sent from Great 
Britain, and refused to cancel or deliver up the bonds paid with 
the public money. He disregarded the presbytery, would not 
attend the synod when notified, and, as though the church were 
his property, applied to Boston for a minister. The synod (in 
172tj) pronounced his conduct unjustifiable, and wrote to the minis- 
ters in Boston not to countenance him till he gave satisfaction. 

Anderson at once desired liberty to remove from New York, and 
the congregation was allowed to call another minister in an orderly 
manner, as soon as they paid the arrears now due. 

He was called, September 24, 1726, to Donegal, on the Susque- 
hanna, and accepted it. His removal did not heal the difficulty: 
the- arrears were not paid till 1730. The synod gave leave to his 
friends, Blake, Leddel, and Inglis, to "join as to sacramental com- 
munion" with any of our neighbouring congregations. 

Application was made by Andrew Galbraith to Newcastle Pres- 
bytery, August 1. 1721, for supplies for Chicken's Longus, (Chique- 
salunga ;) and Gillespie and Cross were sent. Rowland Chambers 
• 1 the request next year. In May, 1723, Conestoga applied ; 
but Hutcheson failed to go, being unable to obtain a guide thi- 
ther; in tin,' fall, he and McGill were sent to Dunngaal. In 1725, 
Donegal obtained one-sixth of Boyd's time; and he served them 
till they called Anderson, lie was installed the last Wednesday 
in August, L727. In September, 1729, he gave every fifth Sab- 
bath to the people on Bwatara, and joined the congregation of 
Derry. 

The Presbytery of Donegal held its first meeting October 11, 
:md consisted of Anderson, Boyd, Orr, and Bertram. As 
early as September, 17:''."i, the emigration to Virginia attracted the 
attention of Thomson, of Chestnut Level; and he proposed to Done- 
gal Presbytery to employ an itinerant in Virginia. The overture 
-imply approves ;" that is, fully, as in Romans xii. 8; — "He 
thai givetn, Let him do it with simplicity," — without stint or abate- 
ment: so they concurred in bis plan heartily. Bach year brought 
up the case ox the back-parts of Virginia; and in April, L788,the 
tery approved of the plan of John I laldwell to ash the synod 
to send b deputation t" wait on the Virginia government and 
solicit its favour in behalf of our interest there. The Bynod wrote 
rnor, and sent Anderson to hen- the letter, providing 



332 JAMES AKDERSON - . 

supplies for his pulpit, and allowing for his expenses " in a manner 
suitable to his design." 

Caldwell was a member of Thomson's congregation, having come 
with four single sisters from county Antrim. He removed to Frede- 
rick county; then to Campbell and Prince Edward's. He was the 
father of Caldwell, of Elizabethtown, and of Major John Caldwell, 
of Virginia, who was shot by a Tory during the Revolution. John 
C. Calhoun was his great-grandson. 

Anderson performed his mission satisfactorily. In April of the 
next year, the presbytery blamed him for having sent Dunlap from 
New England to Virginia without knowing any thing certainly of 
his ecclesiastical standing. This was probably the Rev. Robert 
Dunlap, who settled in Maine. 

He married* Mistresse Suitt Garland, daughter of Sylvester 
Garland, of the Head of Apoquinimy, February, 1712-13. She 
died December 24, 1736. He married Rachel Wilson, December 
27, 1737. His son, Garland Anderson, was one of the witnesses 
of Andrews's will, in 1742. He married Jane, daughter of Peter 
Chevalier, of Philadelphia: he died early. His daughter Eliza- 
beth married Samuel Breeze, and resided in New York, a woman 
of great excellence. 

Anderson died July 16, 1740, probably on his return from a visit 
to Opequhon, and just in the trying emergency when he was needed 
to stand in the breach. A worthless fellow sought to bring a re- 
proach on him after his death, and the presbytery promptly came 
forward with a declaration that he was high in esteem for circum- 
spection, diligence, and faithfulness as a Christian minister. f 

Blair, in his answer to " The Querists," speaks of him as pressing 
forward, at Fagg's Manor, to dispute with Whitefield, almost before 
he had finished preaching. He afterwards, at Newcastle, proposed 
to have some conference with Whitefield, but was told that, since 
he and his friends had made their queries public, he could have no 
communication with him except through the press. 

His brother, the Hon. John Anderson,! of Perth Amboy, was 
made, in 1712, one of the Council of the Province, in place of 
William Pinhorne, Esq. Governor Hunter was obliged to excuse 
himself to the government at home for having displaced an obsti- 
nate Churchman to make way for a man of sense who was a Dis- 
senter. He died in March, 1736, aged seventy-three, being then 
President of the Council. 



* From his family Bible : copied by Mr. Hazard. 

f His correspondence with Principal Sterling, of Glasgow, is preserved in the 
Advocates' Library, Edinburgh. 

% Albany Documents. " A Scotch Presbyterian who had the command of a ship 
of the Darien Company, and enriched himself by plundering it." Rev. Mr. Hen- 
derson, of Dover, Delaware, wrote thus to England, to involve Governor Hunter in 
trouble. 



NATHANIEL WADE. 



NATHANIEL WADE. 



Nathaniel "Wade, a lawyer of Bristol, and a vehement republican, 
had formed the project of emigrating to New Jersey; but, engag- 
ing in Monmouth's scheme to overthrow James the Second, he un- 
dertook to head a rising in his own city. He was thrown into pri- 
son ; and his confession, often referred to by Macaulay, is in the 
Harleian Collection, 6845. He probably came to Massachusetts. 

Nathaniel Wade, of Medford, married Mary, the eighth child of 
Governor Bradstrcet, of that province. 

The name of Nathaniel "Wade does not occur in any of the 
genealogical researches I have seen, nor among the graduates 
of Harvard or Yale.* 

Nathaniel Wade was ordained and settled at Woodbridge, in 
New Jersey, by the ministers of Fairfield county, in Connecticut, 
before 1708. Woodbridge was settled from Newbury, Massachu- 
setts; and Chief-Justice Sewall began to prepare for the ministry, 
with a view of being their pastor. The church embraced several 
- l i families, and wad served for a season by the Rev. Archi- 
bald Riddel. 

In May, 1708, letters from Woodbridge informed Philadelphia 
Presbytery of the difference about Wade, and they, besides writing 
to the ministers of Fail field county, directed Boyd, if his people 
at Freehold consented, and those of Woodbridge desired it, to 
preach in the meeting-house at Woodbridge every third Sabbath. 
Tiny .-traitly e njoined that the meeting-house shall be the only 
place of worship in the town, but Boyd "may preach at Amboy." 
Talbot, i in 1704, in representing to the Venerable Society the im- 
portance of a church in Amboy, said, "Though there be few people 
there, many would come out of Woodbridge. ' 

In September, 171". Wade desired to be a member of the pres- 
bytery, and was received, having satisfied the brethren, by "letters, 
testimonials, and personal argmngs, that his proceedings gave just 
ground For bis acceptance." 

wrote separately to those with whom he was concerned, 
and to those who were dissatisfied with him. To the latter they 

said, •• You professedly own this judicatory." They had found, by 
Wade's certificates, thai In- had a call and subscriptions even from 

BOme of them, and that his ordination was valid according to Scrip- 
ture rules, lie produced certificates from persons whose integrity 



* Mary, the youngest ohfld <■!" tter, John Davenport, Bret minister of New Karen* 
married for her leoend husband a Mr. Wade. 
f Ji ii Church. 



334 NATHANIEL WADE. 

could not be suspected ; and his joining the presbytery seemed 
to be from sincere intentions of being more useful, and he sub- 
mitted himself fully to our church government and discipline. 
They therefore urge them not to weaken his hands, but to seek to 
cement the congregation.* 

He sat in presbytery in 1711, with his elder, Thomas Pike, and 
resigned all pastoral relation to the people in Woodbridge. Divers 
of his congregation were present, for and against him ; and he did 
not clear himself altogether of the grievous scandals charged upon 
him. With trembling hands and tears in his eyes, he declared he 
would no longer be "a bone of contention in that miserable town." 
The presbytery sent Gillespie thither ; but, when the town met to 
consider the getting of another minister, Wade, with ostentation, 
told them that he was now more firmly fixed in Woodbridge than be- 
fore, and that he stood as fair to be voted for as any man ; pretend- 
ing the intention of the presbytery to be that a vote should first be 
taken for himself. The town was therefore constrained to send to 
"a coram of our number" for an interpretation of the presby- 
tery's intent. At the same time Wade visited Boston, and made 
to Cotton Mather such a statement as led him to encourage a Mr. 
Wiswall to become a candidate for the vacancy. 

Mather had heartily recommended Gillespie, and wrote several 
letters, — "the utmost he could do for poor Woodbridge." 

No further mention is made of Wade, who seems to have re- 
mained in the town. It may be added that his opponents, John 
Ilsley and William Sharp, were New Englanders ; and also all those 
who drew off to Episcopacy. 



* Mr. Whitehead, of Newark, has kindly furnished me with the following docu- 
ment from the Records of the Venerable Society, addressed, in 1711, to the Rev. 
Mr. Vaughan, Church missionary at Elizabethtown and the adjacent region : — 

"Sir: — The unhappy difference between Mr. Wade and the people of Woodbridge 
is grown to that height that we cannot join with him in the worship of God as 
Christians ought to do. It is the desire of some people here, that if you think it 
may be for the glory of God, and no damage to the other churches, that you would 
be pleased to afford us your help sometimes on the Sabbath as you shall think con- 
venient ; we do it, not with any intent to augment the difference among us, but 
rather hope that it may be a means for our better joining together in setting up the 
true worship of our Lord Jesus Christ here amongst a poor deluded people. This 
is the desire of your humble servants, 

Richard Smith, John Ashton, Benjamin Dunham 

Amos Goodwin, Gershom Higgins, Henry Rolph, 

John Bishop, William Bingle, George Eubancks." 

Robert Wright, 

A house was placed at Mr. Vaughan's disposal. Monthly services were commenced, 
and a church was built near the meeting-house, — " probably the smallest you have 
ever seen, but amply sufficient for the congregation at this day." — Newark 
Sentinel. 



JOSEPH MORGAN. 335 



JOSEPH MORGAN. 

James Morgan* came to Pequot, New London, Connecticut, about 
1647, with the first settlers, the younger John Winthrop being their. 
head. His third son married Dorothy, daughter of Thomas Parks, 
Esq., in April, 1670. Their son Joseph was born Nov. 6, 1674. 

Arrangements! were made by the town of Bedford, in West 
Chester county, New York, Dec. 26, 1699, to secure him for their 
minister. It was settled from Stamford, Connecticut, and had a 
meeting-house in 1680. They promised him a house and £-k0. On 
the 12th of June, 1700, they took measures to have him indicted, 
under the Act of 1603, for settling a ministry He was ordained 
about that time by the ministers of Fairfield county, and preached 
the sermon according to the custom of that time. Two years 
after, he received the degree of Bachelor of Arts, as one of the 
first class of graduates of Yale ; making it probable that in one 
instance, ;it least, a degree was given where the usual course of 
study had been accomplished before the college possessed cor- 
porate privileges. 

When he began to preach, he used notes. Hooker would hardly 
•it to his being licensed, and Noyes, of Stonington, exclaimed 
vehemently against his performing his duty in that manner. He 
pleaded hia inability to proceed without them ; and, they insisting 
on their being laid aside, he made the attempt, and complied fully 
with their advice. 

He algo served the neighbouring town of East Chester. It had, 
in 1704, 400 inhabitants, mostly Presbyterians ; but difficulties 
sprang up, of which the Churchmen availed themselves. Colonel 
Heathcote, of Scarsdale Manor, a man of large possessions and great 
influence, informed the Venerable Society, Oct. ;">, 17<I4, that the 
minister} was about to leave the Independent Church at Bedford, 
and that the people were well-affected to the Church. He bad 
need means to persuade Morgan to conform, and says he had pro- 
mised tO do BO; but be left, and removed to Cieenwich, Connec- 
ti'-nr, and preached there till 1708. 

lam Knight, in her " Itinerary of an Overland Journey from 
in to New fork in Deo. 1704,' - 1;.~. •• East Chester is a very 
miserable, poor place, ami tin- people a poor, quarrelsome orew; 
and, having quarrelled about their minister, the governor, on find- 
ing a vacancy, sent, them an Episcopalian, who supplied besides at 
the French town (New Etochelle) and Merrinack (Mamaroneck.)" 

Makemie says, in 1706, that Bedford bad asked Cornbury's leave 

* Transcribed from Town B> rda by N. Goodwin, B 

f Bolton's Ili.-tnry of West CLcaUr Couuly. 1 Bolton. 



660 JOSEPH MORGAN. 

to settle a Dissenting minister, but that no answer would be given 
until a Scotch Non-juring parson had been consulted. 

In 1709, Morgan settled at Freehold, in New Jersey ; and, 
being desired to preach in the fall of that year at the ordination 
of Dickinson in Elizabethtown, he resolved to take the same sub- 
ject and treat it in the same manner as he had done at his own 
ordination, nine years before. Thi3 he could not do in all respects ; 
for one of the ministers frequently desired him to be brief, on ac- 
count of the shortness of the day and the greatness of the work 
in hand. His text was Mark xvi. 16: — " The Great Concernment 
of Gospel Ordinances, manifested from the great effects of im- 
proving or neglecting them." 

This sermon was printed at New York* by W. & A. Bradford, in 
1712, the preface being dated at Freehold, Dec. 12, 1709. It is a 
judicious, instructive discourse, appropriate to the occasion. The 
duty of suitable preparation for the ministry is enforced by the 
adage, "A tow lace ill beseems a silk garment." 

His treatise on Baptismf is a review of " The Portsmouth Dis- 
putation Examined ;" the dedication — to Robert Hunter, Governor 
of New Jersey — is dated Oct. 28, 1712. He had then a great 
family, and little opportunity to devote himself to learned studies. 

He was a correspondent of Cotton Mather ; and a Latin letter to 
him, dated " Cal. III., Sept. 1721,'' is in the Antiquarian Library 
in Worcester. He had sent, by a Mr. Preston, a treatise against 
Deists, who sadly abounded in New Jersey. He says he had few 
books, — no dictionary but an imperfect copy of Rider's. His eldest 
son had been more of an impediment than a help to him ; his 
second son was at Yale ; and the third and fourth relieved him 
from the labour of the parsonage plantation. 

It was amazing to see the happy change that had taken place. 
Formerly Presbyterians were scarcely less hated than Papists ; but 
now they were regarded with favour, and openings presented for 
"fluent" preachers. There had been a happy display of saving 
grace among his own people. He had laboured thirteen years and 
seen no work of grace, but in about two years is so strange a turn, 
that I stand in a kind of maze to see it. 

In the spring of the next year, he travelled through Connecticut, 
and on his return wrote to Mather from East Chester, May 28, 1722. 
His object had been to procure ministers for New Jersey, but had 
failed, there being ten vacancies in Connecticut. He expresses 
his uneasiness about the introduction of Arminianism into Yale, 
but is unwilling, on account of his obligations to the institution, to 
appear as a witness or informer. 

Mather sent him some books, which he acknowledges under date 

* Connecticut Historical Society's Library. 
-j- Am. Antiq. Soc. Libr. 



JOSEPH MORGAN. 837 

of Oct. 31, 1722, and transmits a manuscript for the press, de- 
siring that his friend would furnish a preface. He was in cor- 
respondence also with Governor Saltonstall of Connecticut, and 
with Deputy Governor Gold. 

He soon after printed a "Remedy* for Mortal Errors, showing 
the Necessity of the Anointing of the Spirit to guard us from Error,' ' 
and strongly insisting on the duty of examining candidates for the 
ministry on their experience of a saving change. He appends a 
- ntences in Latin, wishing that our ministers would disuse 
notes in preaching, they being so disagreeable to the Scotch and 
the Dutch; concluding with the wish that all our churches were 
furnished with ruling elders to assist the ministers. His next 
publication, on ''Original Sin," is in the Old South Church Library. 
It was followed by another, entitled, "Sin its own Punishment." 

His " Tteplyf to an Anonymous Railer against the Doctrine of 
Election" bears date "17th, Eighth month, 1724." Noticing the 
slur on Presbyterian ministers for receiving a maintenance, he 
Bays he had been in the ministry twenty-seven years, and that, when 
his people kept him free from worldly avocations, the work of grace 
went on abundantly : they came from every quarter to receive spi- 
ritual consolation. "It would even melt one's heart to see the 
humiliation, self-abasement, and self-loathing that appeared in them, 
and their ilceing to the blood of Christ for relief, and to the pure 
j$raoe and good pleasure of God to draw them to Christ, and to 
Bee tin- change wrought in these lovely souls." But when he from 
necessity entangled himself in the things of this life, the scene 
changed mournfully; but, on his being set free from this burden, 
he witnessed again the same delightful success. 

Be telle Mather, Oct. 31, 1722, that he hopes the circulation of 
his book may remove the prejudices " which half the country here- 
away, and almost the other halt* too, have against our Confession 
of Faith. Of all the engines Satan has formed against our sal- 
vation, the most effectual is Arminianism; especially so, because, 

while it owns most of the great articles of faith, it goes less feared 
and mistrusted, and, under the specious pretext of vindicating God's 
benevolence and encouraging virtue, and such like, it privately 
- the work of regeneration under the fifth rib, and ia usually 
followed by Socinianism, and that by Deism.'' 

Hi- boh Joseph graduated ;it Yale in 17i >: '., and died i" early 
life. IIi~ father " entertained" the audience at His funeral \>\ a 
discourse on I'.-. cxxxvii. l and Job x. 2. ll<' pxinted.it, with the 

title of "The DutyJ and Marks of /ion's Children." 

In September, L728, the synod examined divers papers of com- 
plaints against him, and dismissed the accusation... They Pound no 



" Aim. Anti.|. BOO. HOT. f I oid. 

J Dt. Spraguo'u Collection in Seminary Library, Princeton. 

u 



338 PAULUS VAN VLECK. 

proof of his practising astrology, countenancing promiscuous danc- 
ing, or transgressing in drink ; but some separated from him; and, 
there being no hope of his promoting peace or union, he removed 
to Maidenhead and Hopewell. He published about this time a 
sermon on "Love to the Brethren," which reached a third edition 
at Boston in 1749. 

In 1736, the Presbytery of Philadelphia resolved to call Dickin- 
son and Pierson as correspondents, and to meet on the 2d of No- 
vember to investigate the charge of intemperance brought against 
him. The accusations were supported with much evidence, and, in 
many instances, were fully proved. He was then of advanced age 
and of high reputation for piety ; but, on his denying all and seem- 
ing wholly insensible, he was suspended until sincere repentance 
should be seen in him. The synod left the case to the Presbyteries 
of Philadelphia and East Jersey, and approved of their course in 
continuing the suspension. He declined the jurisdiction of the 
Presbytery in Sept. 1738, but retracted it in October ; and the 
Presbytery restored him, at the request of the body of sober and 
religious people, they expressing grateful remembrance of his 
past usefulness, and confidence in his hopeful ability to do them 
service. 

The synod approved of his restoration ; but his name is not men- 
tioned after 1740. 

In 1739, Franklin printed for him a sermon on " The general 
Cause of all hurtful Mistakes," from Pro v. iii. 5 : it was reprinted at 
New London in 1741. 



PAULUS VAN VLECK, 

A native of Holland, and a nephew of Jacob Phenix, in New 
York, was in that city in 1709, having probably arrived in the 
spring, as a probationer. Colonel Nicholson* directed the Rev. 
Dominie Dubois to select a proper person to accompany the expe- 
dition to Canada and read prayers to the Dutch troops. Van 
Vleck was presented to him ; and the Colonial Assembly, on the 
21st of June, directed Dubois, and his colleague, Antonides, to 
take him and examine him before the next Tuesday, in the pre- 
sence of two of her Majesty's council, and ordain him. They did 
not obey; and Van Vleck, on the 23d, prayed the Assembly to 
insist on their compliance. The next day, Mr. Livingston laid 



* Proceedings of New York Legislature. — N. Y. Mercantile Lib. 



GEORGE GILLESPIE. 839 

before the house a paper from the two ministers, stating that they 
were not empowered, by the Classis of Amsterdam, to ordain. 
The matter was dropped. 

In September, 1710, he joined the presbytery, being the minister 
of the Low Dutch congregation of Neshaminy, in Bucks county, 
Pennsylvania ; Mr. Lenard Vandegrift being his elder. By whom 
he had been ordained does not appear. In 1711, one of his elders 
was sent to presbytery^ to state that his absence was caused by 
his being disabled through sickness. The next year he was charged 
with bigamy : but the evidence was not sufficient to prove the crime, 
neither was his vindication such as to take off the scandal wholly; 
he therefore consented, as the presbytery proposed, to desist from 
preaching till his innocence was completely established by proof 
of* his first wife's death. The day after the presbytery broke up, 
he brought papers in his behalf, which were seen by all the mem- 
bers, and Left by them with Andrews, McNish, and Hampton, to 
consider if they were sufficient to clear him of the imputation. 
They thought they were Dot; besides, a new charge of falsehood 
was brought. < )n inspecting a letter from his mother, they learned 
that his wife was alive. Drunkenness, swearing, and "light car- 
riage" were al><> fastened on him. "He ran out of the country;"' 
and. from 1715, he is passed over in silence. 



GEORGE GILLESPIE 

Was born in 1683, in the town of Glasgow, and educated in the 
ancient university founded there centuries ago. He was licensed 
by Glasgow Pfcesbytery early in 1712, and came to New England 

in the spring, furnished with recommendations from Principal Stir- 
ling t<» Cotton Mather, and "certificates of his conversation." 
The situation of Woodbridge had Keen made known to the ministers 
in Boston; .Mather heartily recommended Gillespie to that divided 
people, lb- was "at first generally liked, Wing of an excellent 

character and laudable carriage, and his management being to 
universal satisfaction." The hope of bis uniting the discordant 
parties was cheering; but Wade's factious course divided them still 

lie. re. 

In September, the presbytery approved of his credentials; and, 
'•if Providence make way for bis ordination bys call bom any 
congregation, Andrews, filoNish, Anderson, and Morgan are 
ordered t'> ordain him." The presbytery recommended turn again 
to the congregation of Woodbridge: -"We shall strengthen Ins 
Lamb} and encourage hi* heart t" try a while longer, waiting lor 



340 GEORGE GILLESPIE. 

the effect of our renewed essays for peace and quietness among 
you." 

He wrote to the presbytery; and Henry prepared an answer, 
informing him that the people of White Clay had petitioned for a 
minister, and, if he left Woodbridge, he was ordered first to supply 
that people. 

He was ordained by a committee of three, May 28, 1713, having 
received a call from the people of White Clay Creek. He preached, 
the day before, on Gal. iv. 4, 5, and delivered an exegesis on "An 
Chris tus pro omnibus et singulis sit mortuus?" These were to 
good acceptance, as also his examination in the original languages, 
philosophy, and theology. 

Red Clay, Lower Brandywine, and Elk River, besides White 
Clay, seem to have formed his charge for several years. Abra- 
ham Emmit, who subsequently appears as an elder from Elk River, 
petitioned for a new erection in 1719, and was refused. 

Gillespie was zealous for strict discipline, and three times en- 
tered his dissent* when offenders were dealt with too leniently for 
their immoralities. He informed his presbytery that he would 
publish his animadversions on the synod's undue tenderness in a 
certain case; but he was strictly forbidden by them to do so. 
The Philadelphia papers, in 1735, advertise his " Treatise against 
the Deists or Freethinkers, shewing the Necessity of Revealed Reli- 
gion: for sale by John Cross, at the Drawbridge, in Front Street." 
No copy is known to exist. Was it occasioned by Hemphill's 
course ? 

He is said to have organized the congregation of the Head of 
Christiana, and he served it till his death. 

Zealous for the interests of the church, he was remarkably 
punctual in attendance on presbytery and synod, and in bringing 
something for the fund. 

On the question of the Protest he did not vote, having in all the 
previous trying sessions sought the peace of Jerusalem : he with- 
drew with the excluded brethren, and joined with them, and pub- 
lished a letter to the New York Presbytery in their defence. In 
February, 1743-4, he made a public, formal acknowledgment of 
his error in having done so, before Newcastle Presbytery ; and he 
was cordially welcomed to membership. Soon after, Franklin 
published his " Remarksf upon Mr. Whitefield, proving him a man 
under delusion: Rom. xvi. 17; 1 John iv. 1." 

In discussing the terms of union, he objected to being required 
to acknowledge the events generally styled "the GreaW Revival," 
as "a glorious work of grace." He had seen so many sad issues 

* Morgan said, "Pious Mr. Gillespie entered his dissent" against the limited 
suspension of Walton, in 1722. 

f In the hands of Rev. Dr. Dickey, of Oxford, Pa. 



JOHN MACKET. 341 

of hopeful beginnings, so many lamentable things in the proceed- 
ings of the chief actors, such sad confusions and wide-spread 
divisions, that his heart trembled for the ark of God. 

He died January 2, 1760, aged 77. Alison, who knew him, 
calls him "that pious saint of God." It was left to a generation 
"that knew not Joseph" to lavish on his name epithets of con- 
tumely. A long life passed in the service of Christ, unchronicled 
by the men of his own day, is summed up in a few bare sentences. 
The storm leaves a record of its progress and its power, but the 
dew and the summer breeze "return not void" to Him that sent 
them ; though unobserved, they are not useless. Yet we would 
gladly see some record of a good man's life, — something more note- 
worthy than that, in 1750, the synod allowed five pounds towards 
the building of his meeting-house, or that he urged his brethren to 
remonstrate against the opening of a play-house in Philadelphia. 



JOHN MACKEY 



Tin: earliest congregation that had a minister was the first to 

1 me extinct. Colonel Anthony Lawson was the leading man 

on the Eastern Branch of Elizabeth River, Virginia, when Make- 
mie cime there, in 1(383. His descendants resided at "the new 
town," near Norfolk, until a recent date. George Keith, who was 
often in that neighbourhood, having a daughter married at Kicke- 
tan, (now Hampton,) said that Princess Anne county could not 
maintain a Church minister, the tobacco was so very poor. The 
congregation in I^ynnhaven parish, on Elizabeth River, is men- 
tioned by Commissary Blair as existing at the close of the 
teenth century. 

Makemie* owned a house and lot in Elizabeth River, and gave 
them, by hi- will, to the congregation of Rehoboth, leaving it 
doubtful whether the Presbyterians in Norfolk county needed no 
aid, or were so greatly diminished that any efforts for the main- 
tenance Of "OUr way" in that neighbourhood would be useless. 

Iii 1710, the presbytery Benl Word to Dublin Presbytery that "in 
all Virginia there is bul one -mall congregation :it Elizabeth River, 
and a t'iu families favouring our way in Rappahannock and York.'' 
Henry, in 1718, made "complainl to the presbytery of the 
melancholy circumstances Mi-. John Maokey, in Elizabeth River, 
labours under." Hampton, being abort to write to him on an 

nee. 



342 THOMAS BRATTON — ROBERT LAWSON. 

affair of his own, was desired by the brethren to signify "their 
regard to and concern for him." The nature of his distresses, and 
their issue, with all his history, is unknown. Thomas Wilson, an 
English Friend, mentions his stopping, in 1713, at the house of a 
Presbyterian widow in Lynnhaven Bay. 



THOMAS BRATTON 



Arrived in Maryland in the fall of 1711 ; and the next year, 
being detained by sickness, he sent to the presbytery a " certificate 
of his legal admission to the ministry." Robert Wilson, a com- 
missioner from Monokin and Wicomico, presented a statement of 
their church affairs, and a call for Bratton, and a paper of sub- 
scriptions for his encouragement. Anderson wrote to him in re- 
spect to the call in favour of the people. He had probably preached 
for them from his arrival, but the letter scarcely reached him 
before he was hurried aAvay. He finished his course in October, 
1712. 



ROBERT LAWSON 



Was a member* of Dumfries Presbytery in December, 1G96. 
The tobacco trade, for the first half of the eighteenth century, kept 
up direct communication between London and Virginia and Mary- 
land. The wants of Monokin and Wicomico speedily reached 
Great Britain ; and, on the early death of Bratton, Lawson came 
over to supply his place. He was a native of Scotland; but, like 
McGill, his countryman and companion across the Atlantic, it 
was through Scottish merchants in London that he was directed to 
their correspondents in America. 

Mr. Reynolds, of London, sent by him a letter to the presby- 
tery, engaging to pay £30 for the support of one or more ministers 
to spread the gospel "in the parts about you." At the presby- 
tery, in 1713, he produced ample testimonials of his ordination 
and good behaviour, and was received cheerfully. A call for him 
from Monokin and Wicomico was presented by the elder, James 

* Minutes of trial of Mr. Clanny : in the hands of the Rev. A. B. Cro3S, of Balti- 
more. 



DANIEL McGILL. 343 

Caldwell, and, being offered to him by the moderator, he took it 
under consideration, with promise to give the people an answer as 
soon as the circumstances of his affairs would allow. Ten pounds 
out of the sum promised by Reynolds were given to him. He died 
in November, a few months after his landing on our shores. 



DANIEL McGILL. 

On the death of Taylor, Patuxent remained vacant, having 
only occasional supplies. Failing to obtain McNish, they applied 
to their friends in London, who procured McGill for them. They 
tran-mitted him a call, and he accepted it in England, and laid aside 
all business* that could be advantageous to him ; he was unemployed 
for nearly half a year in consequence, before he entered into ac- 
tual service in Marlborough. He joined the presbytery in 1713. 
In 1714, bis elder was .bums Beall ; in '14, Alexander Beall ; in '15, 
Wilson Scott. " On being interrogated touching the manner of his 
people's deportment to him in his pastoral work, he made his answer 
wholly to their advantage, and with a pleasing earnestness to com- 
mend them, as made it apparent he had good cause for what he spoke." 

But th.- presbytery, on the representation of the messenger, Mr. 
was sensibly affected: they heard of Satan's devices, threat- 
ening their gospel peace and mutual love. They made a few pro- 
to th in. •• which it is in your power to make helpful to your 
it condition : — 

"Particularly with firmness and godly resolution oppose all 
dividing measures. 

•• We apprehend the disproportion between the number of your 
elders and deacons may occasion some uneasiness in your session. 
We need only represent unto you the ends and institution of Sorip- 
ture deacons, and that there is no judicial power allowed them in 
the Scripture. 

•• We expect your acquiescence in our last year's act touching 
Mn-books, which we presume yon know to be agree- 
able to the laudable practice of the best reformed churches." 

In the oeighbouri 1 of Bdarlborougb, in the town of Providence, 

in the town-laud of Sevan, «:i- the home of the Independent 3 

when dri\en from Virginia. The Soots from Fife, and the [nde- 
pendents, had little In common in regard to ohurefa government and 
discipline, Here we see them approaching to collision. 
Concerning Scripture deacons, Diokinsoo has expressed himself 

* Syuod lU-conls • 



344 DANIEL McGILL. 

strongly in a pamphlet in vindication of Non-conformity, published 
in Boston in 1724 : — " We have no church stock, and therefore have 
no need of the office of deacons." 

The congregation sent a representative next year, a Scotsman, 
Archibald Edmundson ; but a doubt was raised whether he ought to 
be allowed to act as a representative in presbytery, in the absence 
of the minister. It was unanimously decided that he might. He 
was the bearer of a letter from Patuxent, which was " read twice 
to our great satisfaction." 

Another difficulty arose, and was considered by Newcastle Pres- 
bytery in 1718, during the intervals of synod. " Andros and Mc- 
Knish" (as David Evans spells ; his rare, curious handwriting being 
as uncommon as his spelling) sat as correspondents. A healing 
letter was written ; but McGill insisted that it should not be sent 
until the last paragraph was expunged. The letter was sent with- 
out alteration; and, at the next synod, a testimonial was given 
him, he having no pastoral charge, and being uncertain how and 
where Providence may dispose of him." 

The traditionf at Marlborough is that he was an austere, sulky 
man. In 1720, he asked the commission if he ought not to be 
paid by his people for the six months which elapsed between his 
acceptance of the call in England and his beginning to preach 
to them. About this, there was "a difference between his apprehen- 
sions and theirs," as there well might be at the end of eight years. 

The synod in 1719, having received a letter from the people of 
Potomoke, in Virginia, requesting their care and diligence to pro- 
vide them an able gospel-minister, appointed McGill to preach to 
them in order to settlement on their mutual agreement. Conn and 
Cross wrote to the congregation on McGill's going to Potomoke. 
He spent some months, and put " the people into church order." 

They manifested by letter their approbation of his whole conduct 
among them, and desire him, but in vain, to be their minister. The 
affair of Potomac was referred to the Committee of Bills, and is not 
again mentioned. This was probably Bladensburg, subsequently 
described as on the East Branch of Potomac and Pamonkey; and 
probably the advice of the synod about "dividing measures" grew 
out of the wish to have the western part of Marlborough congre- 
gation, living on Potomac, permitted to have a minister of their own. 

McGill was called to Elk River, in Maryland, but, after a long 
delay, declined. He was a supply for short periods in Kent, at 
Birmingham, on Brandywine, at Snowhill, White Clay, Drawyers, 
Conestoga, and Octorara. 

He died Feb. 10, 1724, his home being in the London Tract, 
Newcastle county, Delaware. He was a valuable member of 
synod, a good preacher, and a learned man. 

* Quoted by Dr. Hodge, from T. Balch's MS. History. 



HOWELL POWELL. 845 

Besides the following advertisement, nothing else has been res- 
cued, concerning him, from the river of oblivion : — 

1722. " Ran* away from the Rev. D. Magill, a servant clothed 
with damask breeches and veBt, black broadcloth vest, broadcloth 
coat of copper-colour, lined and trimmed with black, and wearing 
black stockings." 



HOWELL POWELL. 

Howell ap Howell offered himself for admission in 1713 ; and 
the presbytery, well satisfied of his ordination, advised him to procure 
within a year further credentials from some eminent ministers in 
England, whom they knew. Till then he shall be free to exercise 
his ministry in all its parts where Providence shall call him, but 
not fully to settle as a fixed minister." 

When Smith left Cohanzy, there came thither Mr. Exell. The 
presbytery wrote to them, in 1711, that they "wished the congre- 
gation bad taken better-advised steps for their provision as to the 
ministry: by the best account they had of him, they judged him 
not a suitable person to preside in the work of the ministry* 
Though invited to be present at our meeting, he neither came nor 
sent, intimating either a contempt or a supine neglect of ecclesias- 
tical judicatures. We cannot approve of some printed papers dis- 
persed by him among the people, as they contain, so far as they 
are intelligible, abundance of gross errors, — a great part consisting 
of oonsense and obvious self-contradictions." 

He settled at Chestertown, in Maryland, and formed an Indepen- 
dent congregation. A grant of land for its use was made, in 1727, 
to Mr. Samuel Exell.f 

By their messenger, John Ogden, Cohanzy sent a petition the 
ear, and the presbytery Bent them a written answer. 

Ephraim Sayre, in their behalf, asked advice about the choice of 
a minister, ana Powell was Bent. 

In 1711, he sat in presbytery with his elder, Joseph Bealey. 
Though he had used diligence, ne had not received the required 
credentials ; but the presbytery, being satisfied by so long trial and 
:il acquaintance, together with other considerable circum- 
stances, sustained, on mature deliberation, the unanimous call given 
him from Cohanzy. Ee accepted it; and Andrews preached hu 
admission sermon, < >ct. 11,17 l~>. 

1 |e died before September, 17 17. 

Lnnalaaf Philadelphia. f !:•■-.. a i; Oroa, Baltimore, Maryland. 



346 MALACHI JONES. 



MALACHI JONES 

Offered himself to the presbytery, Sept. 9, 1714, and they, 
being well satisfied of his ordination and other qualifications, did 
heartily accept of his offer, and admitted him as a member. He 
had been ordained in Wales. He came to Abingdon, about eleven 
miles from Philadelphia, where a church was organized in 1714 on 
the Congregational plan : it soon adopted the Presbyterian method. 

Being the oldest minister, he was frequently placed at the head 
of the commission and on the affair of the fund. 

At the close of the synod in 1727, he, with David Evans, Webb, 
and Hubbell, brought in a protest, — probably against the delay in 
receiving Pemberton, — and declared his intention to join no more 
with them. He seems not to have retracted it ; for his death is men- 
tioned thus in the records : — 

"Since our last, Mr. Malaehi Jones, heretofore a member with us, 
and Mr. Archibald McCook, departed this life." 

Andrews, in writing to Colman under date of March 7, 1729, 
adds, " P.S. — Ten days ago died Mr. Malaehi Jones, an old Welsh 
minister. He was a good man, and did good." 

He made his will Sept. 28, 1727 ; he left three sons — Malaehi, 
Benjamin, and Joshua — and four daughters. He provides for his 
widow two rooms and the little cellar, and charges his son Malaehi 
to give her comfortable maintenance, and to have her firewood cut 
and brought to her door, with five hogsheads of cider, whenever the 
plantation shall make so much. To each grand child he gave a 
ewe and a lamb. His will was proven March 25, 1729. 

His son Benjamin was an elder at Abingdon in 1733, and a 
member of Assembly from Bucks county in 1724. He and his 
brothers adhered to the Old Side. 

The elders who sat with Jones in presbytery were probably, in 
1715, John Parsons; and in synod, in 1720, Benjamin Armitage ;* 
in 1723, Joseph Charlesworth ; in 1725, John Hall, (a member from 
Bucks county in 1740 ;) in 1726, Charles Hofty. George Renock 
(Renwick) attended synod as an elder in 1729. 

* He was frozen to death in a swampy meadow, in Dec. 1735, being an ancient man 
and feeble. Charlesworth died in 1748; Hofty, in 1742. 



ROBERT WOTHERSPOOX — DAVID EVANS. 3-47 



ROBERT WOTHERSPOON, 

A native of Scotland, wrote to the presbytery in 1713, enclos- 
ing his credentials as a probationer. The people of Apoquinimy 
petitioned that he might be ordained and settled among them ; but 
they were informed that this could not be done until they presented 
a formal call. They did so; and he was ordained to the sacred 
function and office of the ministry to the Presbyterian congrega- 
tion at Apoquinimy, May 13, 1714. 

Gabriel Thomas,* in his work on Pennsylvania, published in 
London in 1695, speaks of Apoquinimy as the place where goods 
come to be carted into Maryland. Settlements began to be made 
on the three branches of Drawyers Creek, as early as 1671, — chiefly 
from Holland and England. In 1703, the Venerable Society was 
asked for fifty pounds, in aid of North and South Apoquinimah,t 
which were about to build Episcopal churches. They were styled, 
in Latin, Appoquenomen and Quinquenium, the last being the 
original name for St. (jreorge's, and had for their missionary, in 
1 7 < '7 . .Mr. Jenkins, a Welshman, — the Episcopalians at St. George's 
having the Church services in their native tongue, the Welsh. 

I >n the 10th of May,! 1711, Isaac Yigorue, Hans Hanson, An- 
drew Peterson, and Francis King, bought an acre of land and built 
on it a meeting-house. The spot has been used ever since as the 
Bite of the house of God. 

Wbthersp'oon, in 1715, bought a farm, which still belongs to his 
descendants. He died in May, 1718. 

Hans Hanson sat in presbytery in 1714; Thomas Heywood, 
(Hyatt,) in 17 15j and Elias Naudain in synod in 1717. 



DAVID EVANS, 

A n \tivi: of Wales, was probably the son of David Etams, Esq., 
an elder in the Welsh Trad Churoh. A Baptist church was organ-* 
used in Wale* in 1 7 ' > 1 , and the members came to Philadelphia in 
September of thai year. They remained a year and a half at 
Pennepek, but could not hold fellowship with the church there, 



.' Society's Library. t " ' 

:it Drawyers. 



348 DAVID EVANS. 

because of disagreement about laying on of hands after immersion. 
Thirty thousand acres having been bought in Delaware, the newly- 
arrived church removed thither and settled in the neighbourhood 
of the Iron Hill. 

Welsh Presbyterian congregations existed in Pencader, or the 
Welsh Tract, and in Tredryffryn, or the Great Valley, in Chester 
county, as early as 1710; for in that year the presbytery agreed 
that David Evan had done very ill in preaching or teaching in the 
latter place, and he was censured for acting irregularly and for 
invading the work of the ministry. As the most proper method, to 
advance him in necessary literature, and prepare him for the minis- 
terial work, he was directed to lay aside all other business for a 
twelvemonth, and apply himself closely to learning and study under 
the direction of Andrews. Liberty was given to Andrews, Wilson, 
and Anderson to take him on trials, and at their discretion to license 
him. 

In 1711, a committee of presbytery examined him, and approved 
of his hopeful proficiency, and he was allowed to preach as a can- 
didate for one year, under the direction of Andrews, Wilson, and 
Anderson. In the next fall, David Evans a, candidate, was chosen 
clerk of presbytery, his penmanship being careful and in the 
extreme curious. The people of Welsh Tract and Great Valley 
petitioned that he might be ordained; but, though he had made 
considerable proficiency, it was voted that he should continue to 
study as before. 

In 1713, he graduated at Yale College, and was sent at the 
request of the people to reside at Welsh Tract and preach there. 
They gave him a unanimous call, and, after a thorough examination 
and the usual trials, he was ordained, Nov. 3, 1714. There being 
divers persons in the Great Valley with whom he was concerned, 
they were declared a distinct society from his pastoral charge. 

He was the recording clerk of Newcastle Presbytery for six or 
seven years. For his services each member gave him a half-crown. 

"An opinionative difference" between him and Samuel James 
gave his brethren no small trouble ; they dismissed it and labored 
to pacify the excitement arising from it, but their healing letters 
and healing sermons did no good. He was dismissed in 1720, and 
was called to Great Valley ; but he declined to accept it for several 
years. He was one of the first supplies sent to Sadsbury, West 
Branch of Brandywine, and Conestoga. When he removed to 
Tredryffryn, he was directed to spend one-fourth of his time at 
Sadsbury. 

He printed his sermon at the ordination of Treat, of Abingdon. 
On page 49,* he says, "That it is a wonder to see any gracious, 



* Quoted by Franklin in his defence of Hemphill. 



DAVID EVANS. 349 

truly considerate, wise man in the ministry. It is no wonder to 
see thousands of ignorant, inconsiderate, carnal ministers ; but 
it is a wonder to see any truly understanding, considerate, gracious 
ones." 

He brought in a protest after all the business of synod was 

done in 1727 ; but after three years he declared his hearty concern 

for his withdrawal, and desired to be received as a member again. 

9 declared his adopting the Westminster Confession and 

rhisms, lie was unanimously received as a member, and, for his 

as joined to Philadelphia Presbytery. 

Early in the spring of 1738,* he presented to the presbytery his 
scheme for supplying the English Presbyterians in the Valley. In 
.'>er, 1739, the presbytery met, and heard the charges brought 
against him by Timothy Griffiths for suspending his elders from 
office. He was cleared, and the accuser blamed and debarred from 
church privileges; but the charges were renewed in the spring, with 
a complaint of his heterodoxy, his not preaching enough in Welsh, 
and his church tyranny. The only point on which he was thought 
censurable, was his laying aside the ciders and saying he would 
make no use of them. 

At his request he was dismissed, and accepted a call to Tiles- 
and Quihawken,t in West Jersey. Either the church or- 
ganization at Pilesgrove had become extinct, or it was not to his 
mind; for a church covenant]; was signed, April 30,1741, by him- 
self and twenty-five others. Among the signers were [saac Van 
. Henry Nan Meter, Cornelius Newkirk, Abraham Newkirk, 
Barnet Dubois, Lewis Dubois, and Garret Dubois. 

He adhered to the Old Side On the division of 1741: so did his 

Samuel succeeded him at Tredyffryn. Joel graduated at 

Yale in 171", was licensed by Philadelphia Presbytery, September 

17. 17 11, and Bupplied W [bury and Deerfield. In April, 1742, 

Mr. Vandyke, from Appoquinimy, desired that he might be sent to 
then,. He died before May, 1743. 

He printed in Franklin's Gazette what Samuel Finley calls 
"sullen remarks" on Tennent's letter to Dickinson; and, in 1748, 

published his "Law and Gospel; <>r, Man wholly ruined by the 

Law and recovered by the Gospel," being the Bubstance of several 
sermons preached in 1784, at Tredyffryn, from Galatians iii. 10; 

Romans i. L0. He adds tO his name A.M. and Y.D.M. 

The following paper§ is curious and interesting: — 



• US !:• irds of Philadelphia Presbytery. 
t In tln> neighbourhood of Baton; probably Paul 
I v- i Jersey Historical Collections. 
■\. fcOaboia, of Philadelphia. 



350 DAVID EVANS. 



A 'petition in the behalf of Jonathan Dubois,* a hopeful begin- 
ner in learning. 

To all our Christian Friends in Sopus or anywhere else, etc. 

This is to acquaint you that Jonathan, the son of Barnet Du- 
bois, (the bearer hereof,) hath been at learning these three-quarters 
of a year, in order to the gospel ministry, and proceeds in learning 
hopefully, as also does his cousin John,f the son of Lewis Dubois, 
his school-fellow. But, his parents not being well able to bear the 
charges of his learning without assistance, we, therefore, on be- 
half of the said Jonathan, earnestly desire and beg, in the bowels 
of Jesus Christ, that his near relatives, and any others that are able, 
would open their hearts and hands and contribute out of their 
earthly possessions for the carrying on of so good and necessary a 
work, unto which the Lord and owner of all that you have, now by 
his providence, calls you. AVe entreat you, Christian brethren, to 
manifest the sincerity of your Christian faith and love, by being 
rich in good works, (1 Timothy vi. 17, 18, 19,) being assured that 
they who sow bountifully shall reap also bountifully. I add no 
more, at present, but all sincere wishes for your temporal, spiritual, 
and eternal happiness, by the mercy of God the Father, through 
the merits of God the Son, by the sanctification of God the Holy 
Ghost. Amen. And so rest 

Yours, in the gospel of Jesus Christ, 

David Evans, Minuter. 

Pilesgrove, in Salem county, in West New Jersey, May 7, 1745. 

Be it known to all whom it concerns that the moneys which 
Barnet Dubois formerly collected at Sopus and elsewhere, for our 
public religious affairs, were honestly laid out according to the 
tenor of the petition." 

The congregation of Pilesgrove had met with great discourage- 
ments in their endeavours to have the gospel settled among them, 
and in 1739, the commission of the synod allowed them to build 
on the site they had chosen. To accomplish the erection, they sent 
a messenger to Esopus and other parts of Ulster, in New York, to 
their relatives, to solicit help. 

Evans is said to have been eccentric and high-spirited. His 
preaching gave such offence on one occasion to a person at Piles- 
grove, that, rather than listen a moment longer, he jumped out of 
the church window. 

He died before May, 1751. In his will,J he expresses the hope 

* The pastor, for many years, of the Reformed Dutch Church, in Bucks county, 
Pennsylvania. 

f Died in 1745, at New London, while pursuing his studies with Alison. 
j On record at Trenton. 



JOHN BRADNER — HUGH CONN. 351 

that his people would settle a student from the College of New 
Jersey, and leaves a sum of money to be given to his successor for 
his encouragement. 



JOHN BRADNER. 



< >\ hifl arrival from Scotland, Hampton and Henry, on good and 
sufficient reasons, took him on trial, and licensed him in March, 
1714. lie was called to Cape May, and ordained May 6, 1715. 
lie removed, in 1721, to Goshen, in Orange county. New York, and 
died before September, 1733. 

His son, Benoni, is said to have been born in 1733. He gradu- 
ated at Nassau Hall, in 1755; but by whom or where he was 
licensed or ordained, does not appear : it was not in our connec- 
tion. He was settled at the Nine Partners, in Dutchess county, 
and in June, 1786, became the minister of the Independent Church 
in Blooming Grove, in Orange. Consumptive, and troubled with 
shortness of breath, he lived to the age of seventy-one, and died, 
January 29, 1804, after a long and distressing illness. He was a 
of the Morris County Society for Promoting Religion and 
Learning, from its formation. 



HUGH CONN. 



Hi; was bora a1 Macgilhgan, in Ireland, aboul 1685; and, hav- 
ing studied at the school in Foghanveil, (Faughanvale,) he gradu« 
at the University of I Hasgow. 
The trade from the Patapsoo to Ghreal Britain gave rise to a 
Presbyterian congregation in Baltimore county; and their appli- 
cation to the London merchants broughl their case under the eye 
of the Rev. Thomas Reynolds, minister in London; and, through 
■ Dcy, the Rev. Hugh Conn came over to be their minister. 
: letters by him to Beveral members of the presbytery, with 
the pleasing intelligence thai he designed bo continue pis Bounty 
(whirl. I per annum) for the furtherance of the gospel. 

Conn's credentials were approved; and in September, 1715, Mr, 
Gordon presented a call for him from the people of Balti- 



352 HUGH CONN. 

more county, and he was ordained on the third Wednesday of 
October following.* McGill, James Anderson, and George Gil- 
lespie officiated on the occasion, and installed him pastor of the 
congregation of Patapsco. In September, 1719, he obtained 
leave to demit his pastoral charge, on account of his uselessness 
there, from the " paucity of his flock. He immediately took 
charge of the people on the East Branch of Potomac and Po- 
monkey, — they having, by their commissioner, James Bell, (Beall,) 
petitioned Newcastle Presbytery for a minister. Bladensburg is 
the modern designation of his field of labour ; Pomonkey being a 
creek in that vicinity. He remained there till his death. 

He seldom met Avith Newcastle Presbytery, but attended with 
creditable regularity on the synod. He adhered to the Old 
Side. 

He died on the 28th of June, 1752, while preaching at the 
funeralf of a person who died suddenly. The subject^ he was 
upon gave him occasion to mention the certainty of death, the 
uncertainty of the time when it might happen, the absolute neces- 
sity of being continually prepared for it, the vast danger of delay 
and trusting to a death-bed repentance; for that, although we may 
possibly live some years, yet we may be called away in a month 
or a week, or, for aught that we can tell, death might surprise us 
the next moment. This part of his discourse he was observed to 
deliver with some elevation of voice, but had scarce uttered the 
word "moment," when, putting one hand to his head and one to 
his side, he fell backward and expired, verifying, in a most extra- 
ordinary manner, the truth of his doctrine. 

President Davies, in two of his printed sermons, refers to the 
manner of his death. In one, preached before the New Side 
Presbytery of Newcastle, in October, 1752, he says, "Death may 
surprise us in the pulpit, and leave the sentence unfinished on our 
lips. As Mr. Conn was observing, ' death may seize us the next 
moment: just as he had expressed the word 'moment,' he fell 
back in the pulpit and immediately expired." In his New- Year 
Day sermon, in 1760, he says, " Consider the uncertainty of 
time to you. You may die the next year, the next month, the 
next week, the next day, the next moment. I once knew a 
minister, who, while making this observation, was made a striking 
example of it, and instantly dropped dead in the pulpit." 



* Records, p. 37 

f Rev. Dr. Macsparran, in Updyke's History of the Church in the Narra- 
gansetts. 

X Maryland Gazette of July, 1752. 



ROBERT OKR— SAMUEL PUMRT. 353 



ROBERT ORR, 

A probationer from Ireland or Scotland, having preached 
6ome time for the people of Maidenhead and Hopewell, presented 
his credentials to the presbytery in 1715. They were approved ; 
and, a call being presented by Mr. Philip Rings, he was ordained, 
October 20, 1715, at Maidenhead, by Andrews, Morgan, Dickin- 
son, Evans, and Bradner, before a numerous assembly. His field 
embraced the ground covered by Pennington, Lawrence, Trenton, 
(First Church.) Trenton City, Titusville, and perhaps Amwell. 

The ground for a Presbyterian house of worship in Hopewell 
was secured by deed before 1700. The Churchmen obtained a 
l"t in 1708, and soon after built. Evans, the Church minister in 
Philadelphia, baptized nineteen children at one time at Maiden- 
head, in 1700. Andrews frequently went to Hopewell to baptize 
whole households. In 1711, the united congregations, by William 
Yard, asked assistance of the presbytery in getting a minister: 
they had then Mr. Sackett preaching for them, who afterwards 
settled at West Greenwich, Connecticut. Mr. Woolsey, of Long 
bland, also visited them; and a complaint was lodged against 
not Hunter by Henderson, the Church missionary, in 1712, 
ise Woolsey had been allowed to preach in the Episcopal 
church in Hopewell. 

Of Orr'fl stay in Hopewell nothing is known. Andrews bap- 
tized his .-nil Henry, July 18, 1715. 

He was dismissed from his charge in 1719, and received a 
Bynodical testimonial, being uncertain how Providence would dis- 
of him. Through the loss of the Records of Philadelphia 
•ytery, his subsequent career cannot be traced. 



SAMUEL IT.MIIY 



WaA fche Bon* of Medad Pumry, of Northampton, M 
ehusetts, — his mother being the widow of the Revj tarael Ohaun*- 
He was born September 16, 1687, and graduated at Fate In 
l7"-~>. He trai a faithful recorder, and has [eft ■ itoreef aoou* 

nid valuable information. 



• Rikor'a History of > 
23 



354 SAMUEL PUMRY. 

Newtown, on Long Island, was settled in 1651, and had, for 
its first minister, William Leverich, — from 1658 till his death in 
1669. The Venerable Society were told, in 1704, that there 
was a church or chapel there, in which, according to the Tolera- 
tion Act, a Dissenting minister might preach : there was also a 
house for a minister. When Hampton preached there in January, 
1706, there was " a meeting-house* offered to record ; but the 
town were afraid to ask Cornbury's leave to settle a minister of 
their choice." 

Pumry marriedf Lydia Taylor, of Northampton, July 23, 1707; 
and, being at Newtown in July, 1708, a call, signed by some 
scores of heads of families, was offered to him. On his accept- 
ing it, the town sent two men to transport his family thither; 
and he and his wife and child were conveyed thither safely on the 
18th of September, 1708. The members in full communion, and 
the rest of the people, making earnest request, the Rev. Solomon 
Stoddard, of Northampton, John Williams, of Deerfield, and 
William Williams, of Hatfield, ordained him, November 30, 1709, 
at Northampton, before a great congregation. He was heartily 
and unanimously accepted as a member of presbytery in Septemr 
ber, 1715, he promising subjection in the Lord. The next year, 
the reasons of his elder's absence were inquired into and sus- 
tained. This refutes the supposition, that there were no elders in 
the congregation till 1724, when he stated his need of assistance 
in the work of the ministry. On his nomination, Content Titus, 
James Renne, and Samuel Coe were elected, and ordained June 28, 
and " the members of the church were required and exhorted to 
acknowledge them as men in authority, and to be subject to them 
in their government in the Lord." 

In 1722, he married a daughter of the Rev. Mr. Webb, of 
Green's Farms, in Connecticut. 

On the 24th of May, 1744, his absence from the Synod of 
Philadelphia was excused on account of bodily indisposition. He 
had preached for the last time on Sabbath, the 20th, from John 
xi. 15, and " was taken amiss in the evening, and died about eight 
in the morning of the 30th of June." 

The "Church Record" adds, "He left his dear bosom friend 
and congregation to bewail an unspeakable loss." 

His daughters married Philip Edsall and Jacob Ryker. 

His son, the Rev. Dr. Benjamin Pumry, of Hebron, Con- 
necticut, was a man of real genius, — grave, solemn, and weighty 
in his discourses, in manner animated, and full of zeal and affec- 
tion. In expostulating and pleading with sinners, he melted into 



* Makemie's Narrative. 

f Prime's History of Long Island ; Riker's History of Newtown. 



JOHN THOMSON. 355 

tears ; with equal advantage he could set the terrors of the Lord 
in array, and the venders of Christ's love, — his glory and the 
sufficiency of his righteousness, and the hlessedness of all who are 
reconciled to God by him. He was one of the best preachers of 
his day, and one of the most zealous and successful promoters of 
the revival. For this his name was cast out as vile by the opposers 
of the \v.»rk. 

He was ordained at Hebron in 1735, and died there in 1784, in 
the forty-ninth year of his ministry, aged seventy-one. 



JOHN THOMSON 



Came from Ireland as a probationer to New York, in the sum- 
mer of 171"), with his wife and child. He was recommended by 
the presbytery to the people of Lewes, in Delaware, and went 
thither. In the fall of 1716, they presented a call for him by 
their commissioner, "William Shankland; and he was ordained and 
installed on the first "Wednesday of April, 1717. 

In 1723, a brick church* was erected. In 1727, Samuel 
Bownas,f an English Friend, visited George's Creek, Duck Creek, 
Motherkill, Hoarkill, (Lewes,) and Cool Spring. "Friends are 
Beldom visited, and have few ministers. The Presbyterians and 
Churchmen have attempted to do something; but, the people 
being poor, and the pensions small, they gave out for want of 
pay."' 

Thomson left Lewes in September, 1729, through want of sup- 
port, lie was invited to Newcastle; and the next fall he ac- 
cepted the call from Middle Octorara, sent by dames Garner. 
Hi- installation was appointed for the second Wednesday in Octo- 
ber) but, being harassed by disorders among his people, he re- 
mcved, in 17 B2, to Chestnut Level. Being m great Straits, the 
congregations in Donegal Presbytery kindly made collections for 
his relief in L788. Qui thankful acknowledgment was placed on 
the record. 

His proposal for sending an itinerant to Virginia being ap- 
proved, he was charged witn the duty, but was excused, because 
of the severity of the winter and the soaroity of provender. In 
the winter of L788, he visited the Valley, and passed throngh the 

* Spence. f Friend*' Library. 



356 JOHN THOMSON. 

Rockfish Gap to Concord, Buffalo, and Cub Creek. " He* took 
up collections, to support preachers in itinerating in the new set- 
tlements, and was active in promoting the best interests of our 
church." In June, both parts of Opequhon supplicated for him. 
In September, 1739, Alexander McDowell, from Virginia, was 
introduced to the presbytery, having (probably at Thomson's 
solicitation) determined to devote himself to the ministry. Thom- 
son asked to be dismissed from his charge, to remove to Virginia ; 
but the presbytery would not consent. 

In the troubles of the great rupture he had his full share. The 
state of his congregation made it uncomfortable for him to re- 
move ; he was poorly paid, and he turned towards Virginia, where 
he had steadfast friends. He was not released till July 31, 1744 ; 
and then he at once made his home in the Valley. Donegal Pres- 
bytery intrusted to him and Black and Craig the charge of the 
missionary operations in Western Virginia. An effort was made 
to bring him back to Chestnut Level. 

In 1744, he visited North Carolina, and again in 1751. During 
the last visit, he met with Henry Patillo, and engaged him to study 
for the ministry. 

He published at "Williamsburg, in 1749, f an Explication of the 
Shorter Catechism. He was then labouring in Amelia. 

His son-in-law having removed to Buffalo, in Prince Edward, 
Thomson spent the closing years of his life with him, and died in 
1753, in Centre, North Carolina. | 

During the distractions following the rending of the synod in 
1741, he overtured the presbytery to suffer no person to be in- 
ducted into the eldership, or to sit in any judicatory, without hav- 
ing subscribed the Confession of Faith, — a vain remedy, when the 
agitators were as zealous for it as their opposers. 

His book on the " Government of the Church," and his sermon 
on " Conviction and Assurance," are as able, learned, judicious, and 
evangelical, as any of the writings of Dickinson and Blair. Even 
Gilbert Tennent, in 1749, quoted largely from them, with high com- 
mendation, to justify the Old Side from the misrepresentations cur- 
rent against them, and to prove the expediency and the duty of 
uniting the synods in one body, bound together by a common faith, 
by mutual esteem, and by fervent desire for the peace of Jeru- 
salem. 

It was told to Thomson that himself had been pointed out by 
some as an unconverted minister ; but, if Tennent spoke thus of 
him, repeating the sin of Moses while God renewed the mercies of 



* Dr. Foote. f In the hands of Rev. B. M. Smith, of Staunton, Virgina. 

X Dr. Foote ; but Dr. Alexander said, ' ' He lies in the Buffalo graveyard, with- 
out a stone." 



JOHN PIERSON. 357 

Meribah, it was to him as "waters that pass away,'' when he wrote 
his "Irenicum." 

Davies knew Thomson as a neighbour in the ministry, and, in 
1751, speaks highly* of his judgment, and hopefully of his piety, 
and Bays, ■•Hi.- acknowledged the Revival had done much good in 
Hanover, and rejoiced in seeing the prosperity of religion." 

He did not live to see the union; but, on the proposal to prepare 
the way for it, he hastened to Philadelphia from Virginia, to assist 
with healing counsels. He lived long enough for Tennent to do 
his writings justice, and to vindicate his sentiments: long enough 
to obtain, from the devoted admirer of Samuel Blair, unsolicited 
testimony to his judgment and his delight in the promotion of the 
work of God. 

1 [is discourse entitled "An Overture, urging the Synod to adopt, 
by a public agreement, the Standards of the Scottish Church," was 
answered by Dickinson ; his "Examination of the New Brunswick 
Apology" was a treatise on the government of the church, and 
called forth a reply from Samuel Blair ; his sermon on Convictions 
was attacked by Samuel Finley, but is deservedly commended as an 
excellent exhibition of the truth. 



JOHN PIERSON 



"Was born in 1G80, .and graduated at Yale in 1711. 

The Rev. Abraham Pierson was an Independent, and, with a com- 
pany of like Bentiments, came to Lynn, hi .Massachusetts, and from 
thence removed to Southampton, on Long Island. But, when the 
Long bland towns put themselves under the Connecticut jurisdic- 
tion] he, with those of the ancient way, settled Branford, in the 
colony of New Haven, as their brethren in Hartford settled Bad- 
ley, that they might not be partakers iii the growing laxity of dis- 
cipline. The colonies of New Haven and Connecticut united: and 
the aged Pierson, like another Afoses, Baid to his people, " Ye have 
dwelt Long enough in this i int;" and they arose and took their 

journey and .settled the tOWS of Newark, in New Jersey. There 

he died. Hi- -on, being "a moderate Presbyterian," left Newark, 
and became the Elector of Yale. His Presby terianism was that of 
Connecticut, is distinction from the Endependency of Ins father. 

W Ibridge had vainly i endeavoured, in L669, to Becure for in 

! _-'T Pierson, then settled ixi Newark. They built 

* U'ttiT to Ii.n.'imy. I Newtrii SaatlfleL 



358 JONATHAN DICKINSON.. 

a meeting-house thirty feet square, and, after passing through 
many uncomfortable seasons, obtained a pastor who served them 
faithfully through a long life. 

In 1715, Andrews wrote pressingly to the people of Woodbridge, 
urging them to use utmost diligence to have a minister ordained 
among them. At that time, Pierson was preaching there, and a 
call was offered to him the next year. He was ordained there, 
April 29, 1717, before a very great assembly. Andrews, Morgan, 
and Orr were assisted on the occasion by the venerable Prudden, 
of Newark, and Dickinson, of Elizabethtown. 

He is said* to have employed no elders in the management of 
church affairs ; but this tradition is inconsistent with the record, 
his elder at synod, in 1742, being John Ball; probably, also, Moses 
Rolph attended in several previous years. 

He published a treatise on the "Intercession of Christ," and a 
sermon preached before the Presbytery of New York, May 8, 1751, 
on " Christ, the son of God, as God, Man, Mediator." 

His wife, Ruth, daughter of the Rev. Timothy Woodbridge, of 
Hartford, died in 1732, aged thirty-eight. Dickinson printed his 
sermon at her funeral. 

In 1753, he resigned his pastoral charge and settled at Mend- 
ham, New Jersey, and was the minister there for ten years. He 
then removed to Long Island, and resided on the farm of his 
second wife, Judith Smith. On her decease, he removed to Hano- 
ver, New Jersey, and closed his days under the roof of his son- 
in-law, the Rev. Jacob Green. He died August 23, 1770, aged 
eighty-one. 



JONATHAN DICKINSON 



Was the grandson of Nathaniel Dickinson, one of the first set- 
tlers of Wethersfield, Connecticut, who, with his minister, Mr. Rus- 
sell, and "the aggrieved brethren in Hartford," purchased and set- 
tled Hadley and the adjoining towns in 1659. His estate was 
rated, on his removal, at two hundred pounds, — one of the largest 
in the town. His son Hezekiah lived in Hatfield, where Jonathan 
was born, April 22, 1688. He graduated at Yale, in 1706. His 
father dying soon after, his mother married Thomas Ingersoll, of 
Springfield. 

He came to Elizabethtown in 1708, and soon after married Jo- 

* Dr. Azel Roe's MS. History of Woodbridge : quoted by Dr. Hodge. 



JONATHAN DICKINSON. 359 

anna, the daughter of the Rev. Samuel Melyen, or of some other 
descendant of Joseph Melyen, one of the associates in the purchase 
of the Elizabethtown Tract under Governor Nicolls's grant. His 
entry in the family Bible of the birth of his first child is, " Our 
son Melyen was born December 7, 1709." 

He was ordained by the ministers of Fairfield county, Connecti- 
cut. September 2!>, 1709. Morgan, of Freehold, preached from 
Mark xvi. 16. His field of labour embraced Rahway, AVestfield, 
Connecticut Farms, Springfield, and part of Chatham. He "was 
engaged in teaching, and in the practice of medicine. 

He met with Philadelphia Presbytery as a correspondent, in 1715, 
at the ordination of Orr, and became a member early in 1717. 

Hifl first publication was his sermon preached before the synod 
in 1722, on 1 Timothy iii. 17, — the expression of his views on the 
subject of Synodical Acts, or Church Legislative Power. 

He entered warmly on the Episcopal controversy when a heartless 
Armmianism and a hope of court favour led a few ministers in Con- 
necticut to conform. In 1724, he published his " Defence of Pres- 
byterian Ordination in Boston." A reply from a Churchman drew 
from him an answer, in which he says, "lligh-Churchism is pro- 
perly no more a part of the Church of England than a wen is of 
the human body." 

He published ''Remarks on Thomson's Overture, introducing the 
Adopting Act," in April, 1729; the "Reasonableness of Chris- 
tianity,"' in 1732 ; the " Vanity of Human Institutions in Religious 
Worship," a sermon he had preached at Newark, June 2, 1732, on the 
introduction of the Episcopal services into that town; the "Reason- 
ableness of Nonconformity," in 1738 ; the "Witness of the Spirit," 
in 174" : U A Treatise da Regeneration," in 1744; the "Vindication 
of" the Sovereignty of I brace," in 1770 ; and " Familiar Letters to a 
Gentleman," and a "* Dialogue, entitled a Display of Saving Grace." 
Mr. Wetmore defended against him the doctrine of regeneration by 
baptism ; the Bey. Andrew CrosweU condemned the w> Dialogue on a 
1 display of I hrace" as pernicious beyond parallel. Dickinson replied 

to him, and also tO the Rev. John Beaoh, who wrote against his bbob "ii 

'• Sovereign ( brace." Beaoh rejoined, and Dickinson left, at his death, 
an answer unfinished. It was completed and published by his brother. 

The Re?. Dr. Johnson, of Stratford, Conner tie in, controverted his 

opinions, under the name of Aristocles. The Key. Experience May- 

*ed two letters to him. To both of them he replied. 

In IT l", he, with Burr and Pexnberton, communioated to the 
in Scotland for Propagating the Gfospel, the deplorable and 
perishing condition of the Indians on Long Island, in New Jersey, 
and Pennsylvania. They were appointed correspondents, and 
authorised to employ missionaries. They engaged ATsariah Horton 
and David Brainerd, ami were forward to countenance them in 

their wink and to rejoice their spirits with hearty Counsel. 



dbO JONATHAN DICKINSON. 

His former instances of joy in revivals, previously enjoyed, were 
more eminent and remarkable than any of a late date. While he 
preached to youth, there was weeping, audible sighing, and sobbing. 
About sixty were added to the communion ; they were under a law- 
work for a considerable time ; pungent and thorough conviction 
emptied them of self-righteousness, and drew them to Christ. 

The disorders attending the awakening in New Jersey grew out 
of erroneous views of assurance and the witness of the Spirit. 
Antinomianism appeared, and denounced the practice of looking 
for evidence of justification in the progress of our sanctification. 
There was much arrogance in some who were called converts ; and 
many upheld a preacher who had been suspended for dreadful 
scandals. These things called forth his " Dialogue on the Display 
of Grace" and his sermon on the "Witness of the Spirit." 

His wife died April 20, 1745, aged sixty-three ; she was the mo- 
ther of a large family, of whom only three daughters survived her. 
The third child was named after his father, born Sept. 19, 1713, 
graduated at Yale in 1731, and took the Master's degree. He left 
his home ; and his father daily in the family entreated God for 
him. At length he ceased to do so. His household noticed, but 
none asked the reason, supposing that he had received privately 
intelligence of his end too painful to be uttered. His youngest 
daughter, Martha, married the Rev. Caleb Smith ; another was the 
second wife of Mr. Jonathan Sergeant, of Princeton, the grand- 
father of the Hon. John Sergeant, of Philadelphia ; a third mar- 
ried Mr. John Cooper, probably of West Hampton, Long Island. 

Brainerd spent part of the closing year of his life under Dick- 
inson's roof, and solemnized his second marriage at Newark, April 7, 
1747. He rode back to Elizabethtown in the evening, " in a plea- 
sant frame,, full of composure and sweetness." 

Dickinson died Oct. 12, 1747, of a pleuritic attack, in his sixtieth 
year. Pierson preached at his funeral. The New York Postboy 
contains a high eulogium on him. 

Dr. Johnes,* of Morristown, who was with him in his last illness, 
asked him, just before his death, concerning his prospects. " Many 
days have passed between God and my soul, in which I have so- 
lemnly dedicated myself to him ; and, I trust, what I have committed 
unto him, He is able to keep until that day." These were his 
last words. 

It is said thattidingsf of Dickinson's decease came toMr.Vaughan, 
the minister of Elizabethtown, then lying on his death-bed, when 
he exclaimed, " Oh that I had hold of the skirts of Brother Jona- 
than!" They entered on their ministry in the town about the 
same time, and "in their death they were not divided." 

* Austin's Preface to the Five Points, 
f Dr. Murray's Notes on Elizabethtown. 



SAMUEL GELSTON. 3G1 

Forty-six* years after his departure, " there were those who tes- 
tified that he was a most solemn, weighty, and moving preacher ; 
a uniform advoeate for the distinguishing doctrines of grace ; in- 
dustrious, indefatigable, and successful in his ministerial labours. 
His person waa manly and of full size, his aspect grave and solemn, 
so that the wicked seemed to tremble in his presence." 

Bellamy speaks of him as ".the great Mr. Dickinson." Dr. Ers- 
kine said the British Isles had produced no such writers on divi- 
nity in the eighteenth century as Dickinson and Edwards; he wished 
II. r\ . v had seen their treatises before he prepared his works. Dr. 
Bodgera was often heard to say that he was one of the most vene- 
rable and apostolical-looking men he ever saw. 

Foxcroft, of Boston, was his friend through life, and, in his pre- 
face to his posthumous piece, expresses a high sense of his excel- 
lence. His works were collected after his death and published 
in Boston. A selection, comprising all that were not local in 
their design, was printed in Edinburgh, in an octavo volume, in 
1793. 

His treatise on " The True Scripture Doctrine concerning the 
Five Points of Ejection, Original Sin, Grace in Conversion, Jus- 
tification by Faith," was issued at Boston, in 1741. Under the 
direction of New York Presbytery, in 1796, a new edition ap- 
peared; and another was undertaken at Chamberabnrs in 1800.f 



SAMUEL GELSTON 

Wl8 born in the North of Ireland in 1692, and came as a pro- 
bationer to New England in 1715. He waa received in the fall 
under the oare of Philadelphia Presbytery, ami was sent to tho 
people of Sent, on I Delaware. Though desired to stay, he left with- 
out tin- consent of presbytery, and wenl to Southampton, on Long 
Island. There his brother Hugh resided: he. was called a- col- 
I .•■ with the pastor. Samuel Whiting and tin- congregation 
placed itself under the presbytery's oare. The Presbytery of Long 
Island, on its organization, took him on trial, and ordained and in- 
stalled him, April IT, 1717. His stay waa about ten years ; and, 

Au„'. ^7. 17i>, he was received as a member of Newcastle I'n-I.y- 

tnd took into consideration a call to Newcastle. The nexl 

!u\il A u -tin, in lii^ l'n-1'.ic-i- to 1 1 1 « - hi v.- 1 *■ .i n t •*. 

f John Column, of Chambtnbnxg, tubaoribed foe 1 1 ' ■ 



362 SAMUEL GELSTON. 

month, he was called to New London,* Chester county, Pennsyl- 
vania. 

This was a new erection, which for two years had vainly strug- 
gled for a separate existence, the congregation of Elk River op- 
posing. The presbytery, May 11, 1726, had refused leave to a 
few families residing on the northeast side of Great Elk, to build 
a meeting-house, and have a part of their pastor's labours performed 
in it. The house was put up, and the synod confirmed the action 
of the presbytery ; but the next year they modified it, requiring the 
house to be removed to a point six miles distant from Houston's 
church. Only one person dissented from this decision, and from 
the order forbidding any minister to preach in it, until removed. 
The site pointed out, near the Indian town, towards Fagg's Manor, 
cannot now be ascertained. The house was not removed, and the 
synod renewed its stringent order. The presbytery exacted of 
Gelston an apologyfor preaching in the forbidden building, and laid 
him under a solemn engagement to do so no more. In 1781, the 
matter was terminated, by leaving the house where it was built; 
none of the apprehended damage having accrued to the congrega- 
tion of Upper Elk. It is thought probable that the present New 
London Church stands on the very spot selected by the presby- 
tery, and so tenaciously refused by the congregation. 

Robert Finney, who was an elder in synod in 1721 from Elk 
River, was the principal mover for the new erection. In 1729, he, 
with James Muir, protested against the synod's refusal to have a 
perambulation made of the bounds in dispute by indifferent men, 
and against their hearkening to the representations of those who 
were bent on defeating the enterprise. 

The arrangements for Gelston's installation in January, 1729, 
were postponed, as a rebuke for having preached in the objection- 
able locality. He left his charge as early as 1733, and fell under 
censure. Going into the Highlands of New York, many evil re- 
ports arose ; but a committee of synod met at Goshen and saw 
reason to remove his suspension. He seems to have visited Vir- 
ginia in 1735; for, in May, 1736, "both parts of Pekon wrote 
for him" to Donegal Presbytery. He had joined that body about 
a month before, and was sent to Opequhon, to Conestoga, and Cone- 
doguinet. In the fall, he was directed to supply Pequea, and in the 
spring following, having informed the presbytery he was about to 
remove from their bounds, he was dismissed. In 1748, Robert 
Cross wrote to him to repay the money he had borrowed of the 
synod's fund ; and in 1753, a promise was made to remit all the in- 
terest in arrear, if he would forthwith pay the principal. 

He is saidf to have died Oct. 22, 1782, aged ninety. 

* Rev. R. P. Dubois's Historical Discourse at New London, 
■j- Thompson's History of Long Island. 



GEORGE PHILLIPS — HENRY HOOK. 363 



GEORGE PHILLIPS 

CAMS* of a distinguished Puritan ancestry, being the son of the 
Rev. Samuel Phillips, of Rowley, Massachusetts, and the grand- 
son of the celebrated divine, George Phillips, of Watertown, who 
Came to New England, in 1630, with Sir Richard Saltonstall. 

George Phillips was born June 3, 16*4, and graduated at Har- 
vard in 1686: he was employed as a licentiate at several places, 
- Jamaica, where he laboured till his removal to Setauket, 
from 1693 to 16: '7. 

Brookhaven, an eight-sided township, the largest on Long Island, 
tried from Boston, in 1655. The place where the planters 
fixed their abode was called Setauket, from the Indian tribe which 
had dwelt there. For thirty-five years, the town had for its 
minister Nathaniel Brewster, the grandson of the ruling elder of 
the Pilgrim Church, of Plymouth. Asa colleague to him, Dngald 
Simeon was employed from 1685 to 1691, when he returned to 
Scotland. 

The town promised Phillips the gift of one hundred acres in fee, 
and the use of two hundred more for life. He was not ordained 
from 1697 till April 13, 1702. 

The Second Meeting-house was planned in 1710, and the dis- 
agreement about the site wus not removed till 1714; when, by an 
appeal to the lot, it was decided to build on the old spot. This 
edifice was used till lsll; British soldiers occupied it in the war, 
and b-t't od it marks of bullets and cannon-balls. 

Phillips join <1 in forming Long Island Presbytery, in 1717. On 
it- extinction, he was connected with New York Presbytery till his 
death, in 1789. He Wafl never present in synod. 



BENRY HOOK 



Cams m an ordained minister from Ireland, and was received 
by the synod in 1718; and be settled al Oohansy. Andrews 
wrote to Mather, t April BO, 17±J: — "The week before last, by 
the pressing importunity of the minister of < lohanzy, I went thither 
to heal -'-me dineren n the two congregations there; 

* Thompson*! History of Lou Uand; Prime*! ditto. 

t Mutli.-r MSS., Am". Am: | 



364 JOSEPH LAMB — WILLIAM TENNENT. 

which being effected, contrary to expectation, such charges were 
laid against hirn as have subverted him from acting there or any- 
where else." He removed to Delaware; and Newcastle Presby- 
tery met in Cohanzy to investigate the case. The synod judged, 
though several things were not proven, yet it was due to rebuke 
him openly, in Fairfield Meeting-house, and to suspend him for a 
season. He was sent to supply Conestoga and St. Jones, in Kent, 
on Delaware. Hans Hanson and John Burgess, commissioners 
from Drawyers or Appoquinimy, presented a call for him, March 
12, 1723: he did not accept till September 14, 1724, and Creag- 
head, of White Clay, installed him. He was sent frequently, as a 
supply, to St. Jones, and, in 1737, to Kent, in Maryland. He 
died in 1741, and was buried on land he had bought in 1724, and 
which is owned by his descendants at this day. 



JOSEPH LAMB 



Graduated at Yale in 1717, and was ordained, by Long Island 
Presbytery, December 6, 1717, pastor of Mattituck, Long Island. 

But few things are known of him, further than that his wife died 
in April, 1729 ; that he was appointed by the synod to supply 
Jamaica, in April, 1737 ; and that, being called to Baskingridge, 
in New Jersey, he joined New Brunswick Presbytery, May 24, 
1744. 

Brownlee calls him "a Scottish worthy;" but he was probably a 
native of Connecticut, for he was sent, in July, 1744, to supply 
the Presbyterian Church in Miiford, in that colony. He died in 
1749. 



WILLIAM TENNENT 



"Was born in Ireland, and was a cousin,* on the mother's side, 
of James Logan, the Secretary of the Province of Pennsylvania; 
the Rev. Patrick Logan having married Isabel Hume, a relative 
of the Laird of Dundas and the Earl of Panmure. Tennent mar- 
ried, May 15, 1702, a daughter of the Rev. Mr. Kennedy, a dis- 

* Watson's Annals of Philadelphia. 



WILLIAM TEXXEXT. 365 

tinguished Presbyterian minister in Ireland. The Rev. Gilbert 
Kennedy, a kinsman of the good Earl of Cassilis, who sat in the 
Westminster Assembly, having been ejected from his charge in 
Girvan, Ayrshire, went to Ireland, and became the minister of 
Dundonald. He was imprisoned, in 1670, by Boyle, Bishop of 
Down, and died February 6, 1687-t8. His brother Thomas -was 
the minister of Donoughmore; and his grandson, Gilbert, suc- 
ely minister of Lisburn, Killileagh, and Belfast, died in 

l;;.;. 

William Tennent was ordained, by the Bishop of Down, a deacon 
in July, 17U4, and a priest, September 22, 1706. He resided in 
Down at the time of his marriage, then in Armagh, and, after 
entering into orders, in Antrim and Down. He is said to have 
held a chaplaincy in a nobleman's family. 

A brief* family record states the births of Tennent's children, 
and their baptism by Church ministers. After having been| in 
Orders a number of years, he became scrupulous of conforming to 
the terms imposed on the clergy of the Establishment, and was 
deprived of his living. There being no satisfactory prospect of 
usefulness at home, he came to America with his wife, four sons, 
and a daughter, in .September, 1716. 

11 1. November --, 1718, at East Chester, New York, and 

removed, May 8, 1720, t<> Bedford. In 1721, he took charge of 
in and Sinithfi.'ld, in Bucks county, Pennsylvania. lie ac- 
cepted a call to Neshaminy in 1720. He had a school, at which his 
sons and others were educated, — the Latin being as familiar to him 
as hi- mother-tongue. In 1728, James LoganJ gave him fifty acres 
on Neshaminy Creek, "to encourage him to prosecute his views* 
and to make his residence near US permanent." The presbytery 
did not M-nd a minister to in-tall him; but the people, being asked 
in the meeting-house, declared their acceptance of him as their 

pa-tor. He had two congregations, distinguished on the presby- 
tery-book as tin- Upper and lower. < hi obtaining the land, a log 
building was erected, twenty feel square, in which his pupils 

studied. Whitelh M Bays, eight ministers trained by him were 

Miii out before the fall of L789. Of these, four were his sons; 
two others were Samuel Blair and John Rowland. 

In September, 1784, the uewly-formed congregation of Newtown 
asked tor one-fourth of his time; Km his upper congregation would 
1 1 — « - r 1 1 _ In June, 1786, he asked the presbytery if they con- 
sidered him the regular pastor of Neshammy: they replied that 
(hey did. Tin- people then carried the matter to the synod, who 
concurred with the court below. Again Tenneni asked the preebyt 
■ plied as before. Two yean afteti, ;i 

lehed by Dr, alexwder, in tin- Log College. 
t Memoir uf Wax. Tennent, <■; Freehold. J Watson. 



366 WILLIAM TENNENT. 

petition, signed by sixty-six names, was brought, asking for an 
assistant. The presbytery called Boyd and Thomson to sit with 
them in considering the matter: they came, and Tennent freely 
and cheerfully agreed to the people's proposal. It was arranged 
that each party should pay their own minister, and the two should 
preach "day about." McHenry was chosen as assistant. 

His people complained, September 18, 1739, that he had yielded 
his pulpit to Rowland, against the synod's express order in the 
previous May. When the presbytery entered on the consideration 
of the case, he disclaimed their jurisdiction, and withdrew; and 
they did no more than beseech his friends not to suffer the like 
violation of the synod's authority any more. 

On the 10th of November, he came to Philadelphia to see White- 
field, who rejoiced to welcome "an old, gray-headed disciple and 
soldier of Jesus Christ, — a great friend of Mr. Erskine, but secretly 
despised by most of the synod." Two days after, Whitefield went 
to Neshaminy, and, on his arrival, found Gilbert Tennent preach- 
ing in the churchyard to three thousand persons. He stopped at 
once, and gave out a psalm ; after which " Whitefield preached, 
and the people were unaffected; but, in the midst of my dis- 
course, the power of the Lord Jesus came upon me. The Lord 
brought great things to pass." The revival was extensive and 
powerful there. 

Tennent entertained Whitefield as one of the ancient patriarchs 
would have done. Whitefield saw in him another Zacharias ; and 
his wife appeared like Elizabeth. There were then " several 
gracious youth" in the Log College, nearly ready for the ministry. 
Whitefield wrote to a friend in Philadelphia, July 15, 1740, " I 
rejoice you have been at Neshaminy. I can say of Mr. Tennent 
and his brethren as David did of Goliath's sword : — ' none like 
them.' " 

Tennent was regularly at synod during the exciting scenes of 
the three years preceding the rupture, and concurred with his 
sons in all their measures. Regarding himself as cast out by the 
Protest, in 1741, he withdrew from the synod and joined New 
Brunswick Presbytery. He soon asked for an assistant ; and sup- 
plies were sent till 1743, when Beatty was called and ordained. 
Roan took charge of the school for a season. 

Tennent finished his earthly course May 6, 1746, aged seventy- 
three, having seen of his pupils, Samuel Blair, Rowland, McCrea, 
Robinson, John Blair, Samuel Finley, Roan, Beatty, Lawrence, 
and Dean, besides his four sons, make honourable proof of their 
ministry, as men " allowed of God." 

He lived and died poor. On his coming to this country, he bor- 
rowed from the synod's fund, McNish being his security. He 
asked, in 1724, for " some supply from the fund," in vain. On one 
occasion, the unpaid interest was remitted. His widow petitioned 



SAMUEL YOUNG — EGBERT CROSS. *367 

for the same favour : eight pounds were thrown off, on condition that 
principal and interest were paid at once. 

His widow, Catharine, closed her days with her son Gilbert, 
and died in Philadelphia, May 7, 17">;i, aged seventy. Of his 
daughter, Eleanor, we have no notice except of her birth, Decem- 
ber 27, 1708. 

To William TbnnhNT, above all others, is owing the pros- 
perity and enlargement of the Presbyterian church. Other men 
W6W conservative, and to their timely erection of barriers we 
owe our deliverance from the "New Light" of Antrim; others 
were valiant for the truth, and exerted by the press a wide influ- 
ence on the age; many were steadily and largely useful in par- 
ticular departments and in limited spheres : but Tennent had the 
rare gift of attracting to him youth of worth and genius, im- 
buing them with his healthful spirit, and sending them forth 
sound in the faith, blameless in life, burning with zeal, and un- 
surpassed as instructive, impressive, and successful preachers. 



SAMUEL YOUNG 



WAfl received from Armagh Presbytery by the synod, Septem- 
ber 23, 1718, and was appointed by Newcastle Presbytery to 
supply Drawyers. In May, 1720, a number, (lately come from 
Ireland,) having settled about the branches of Elk River, sent 
Thomas Head ami Thomas Caldwell to present their case to the 

{presbytery. Young visited them, and countenanced their design of 
laving the gospel settled among them. They were organized as 
a congregation in .lime, ami they made out a call for Young in 

September: he declined, and died before June 0, 1721, leaving a 
widow. 



ROBERT CROSS 



Wah born near Ballykelly,* in Ireland. 1689; and hi- ore- 
dentil'- u a probationer were approved by tin- synod in 1717. 
After Bpending some time in Newcastle, he was called to that 

* Near Lettcrkcnny, according to Mr. Ilazunl. 



368 ROBERT CROSS. 

place on September 17, 1718; he was ordained and installed, 
March 17, 1719. Young preached, and Andrews was present as 
a correspondent. The congregation of Jamaica, Long Island, 
called him, September 18, 1723, to succeed McNish. He ac- 
cepted the call ; and, on the failure of the Church missionary in 
his suit for the ejectment of the tenants from the parsonage lands, 
he was, by a vote of the town, (January 2, 1725,) put into pos- 
session of them. 



GOVERNOR BURNETT* TO THE BISHOP OF LONDON. 

"New York, July 14, 1727. 

"My Lord:— 

" I have been informed by Mr. Poyer that there is an action 
commenced by the Presbyterians of Jamaica for the English 
church, which they pretend was built by them, and taken from 
them by violence by my Lord Cornbury. 

" I know nothing certain about their claim ; but if they take 
the course of law I cannot help it ; but, they having committed a 
riot in taking possession of the church, the attorney-general here 
has lodged an information against them, and I refused them a 
nolle prosequi upon their application, — that their rashness may be 
attended with charge and trouble at least, if not punishment, 
which may perhaps discourage them in their suit, or make them 
willing to compromise it. My lord, &c, 

" W. Burnett." 

Whether they were indicted, or prosecuted, or convicted, does 
not appear; but they proceeded in their suit for the church. 
The defendant's counsel demurred to some of the plaintiff's evi- 
dences; but Chief-Justice Morris bade them waive it, for if the 
jury found for the plaintiff he would grant a new trial. They 
were very unwilling to do so ; but, knowing the man, and fearing 
the worst from him, they consented. The verdict being for the 
plaintiff, the defendant's counsel moved at the next term before 
judgment for a new trial. It was refused ; and, on reminding 
Morris of his promise, he denied having made it, but said, on 
being urged, "A bad promise ought always to be broken." So, in 
1727, the Presbyterians recovered their church by due course of 
law. 

Morris was no friend to the Presbyterians, having been a pupil 
of George Keith. He was openly charged with having taken a 
bribe, and Governor Cosby suspended him from his office. He 
went to England for redress, and published the grounds of his 

* Quoted by Macdonald. 



ROBERT CROSS. 369 

decision in the Jamaica case. Cosby wrote in his own vindication 
to the Council, describing Morris as grossly intemperate, insuf- 
ferably haughty, shamefully neglectful of the business of his office, 
and destitute of regard for truth. 

The year after Cross settled in Jamaica, there were, according 
to Poyer, many infidels and eighty Church families in the town 
and the precincts of Newtown and Flushing. 

In 1783, the Assembly granted the Vestry of Jamaica leave to 
dispose of sixty pounds; and the king was vehemently importuned 
to disallow the act, because the money would be given to the 
Dissenters. 

Cross was called to Philadelphia, in 1784, as assistant to An- 
drews ; but the synod, on his leaving the matter to them, decided, 
after calling upon God, not to place the call in his hands. Peni- 
berton* wrote to Welstead, of Boston, August 26, 1734, "You 
live in a place of action, but we ... . have nothing before us but 
the removal of Mr. Cross. The Jamaica people refuse to give 
him up; the Philadelphia people insist on having him. lie de- 
clares himself willing to comply with the determination of synod, 
but has no wish to part with his present people." 

When the commission was called together, in April, 1735, in 
the ease of Hemphill, Pemberton and Cross preached, and both 
printed their sermons, to vindicate themselves from the charges 
inoiight against them. Hemphill was amazed at so much insin- 
cerity in Cross, who had seemed to be much his friend. 

Jn the fall of 1735, his friends in Philadelphia petitioned to be 
mad" a distinct congregation. Leave was granted in the next 
summer, and they presented a call for him. He told the synod, 
that he thought they could not determine the matter till his people 
had been duly apprised, and that he thought it his duty to stay 
with them. The matter was delayed a year, and both congrcga- 
presented their reasons. They were considered; and. after 
Calling on God for light and direction in the matter, they with 

one accord united in recommending his removal to Philadelphia, 
He is saidt to have been successful in winning souls. Hia 

work in Jamaica had Keen to him delight fill, and for his work's 

sake he was eery highly esteemed. Elisabeth Ashbridge,! the 
Quakeress, said, "His people almosl adored him, and impoverished 
themselvee I [ual the Bum offered aim in the city; but, failing in 

this, they lost him." 

lie joined Philadelphia Presbytery, May 29, 17^7. The two 
congregations uniting, he was installed, November 1"; and An- 
I reached from - Cor. iv. 7. 

• 1188. of Mmtchoietti BUtorleal Bo 

f Mw-.|..imi.i. j Prieoda' Library. 

24 



370 ROBERT CROSS. 

The ministry of Whitefield in Philadelphia was extensive and 
powerful in its influence. Many were alienated from Andrews 
and Cross ; they did not preach, it was said, so as to alarm the 
conscience. Whitefield, when about to sail, wrote from Reedy 
Island, Delaware, May 19, 1740, " Mr. C. has preached most 
of his people away from him. He lashed me most bravely the 
Sunday before I came away. Mr. A. also preached against me." 
But, subsequently, when the snow prevented the roofless " Great 
House" from being used, Cross offered his meeting-house to 
Whitefield, and he preached there, with a sweet and wonderful 
power. Then he entered in his journal his sense of the folly of 
exposing his opinion of ministers as unconverted : he saw it to be 
a lording it over brethren. 

On the death of Andrews, Cross had Francis Alison for his 
assistant; and, in 1753, application was made to Edinburgh and 
London for a colleague. The answer from Edinburgh is un- 
known ; but Dr. Chandler recommended Mr. Richard Godwin, of 
Little St. Helen's, in London, — " serious and reserved in con- 
versation, but very fluent in the pulpit." He (Cross) resigned 
the pastoral charge, June 22, 1758. He maintained a corre- 
spondence with the ministers of South Carolina Presbytery. He 
died on the 9th of August, 1766. His wife, who was born in 
New York, in 1688, died in the same year with him. They left 
no children. 

He was esteemed for prudence, gravity, and skill in the Holy 
Scriptures ; it is added, — and for his genteel deportment. 

He made his will on the 6th of June. "I do commit my soul to 
my heavenly Father, of whose mere mercy and free grace I hope 
to obtain the full and free pardon of all my sins, through the merits 
and mediation of his well-beloved Son, my only Saviour and Re- 
deemer, the Lord Jesus Christ, in whom I believe, and on whose 
atonement and all-powerful intercession I solely depend for my 
acceptance with God and eternal salvation." He left to his bro- 
ther, Hugh Cross, <£100 in Irish money; "<£1000 proclamation to 
Margaret, only daughter of my brother William, who lives with 
me." He gave twenty-five pounds to the Widows' Fund; and the 
proceeds of his library, excepting several books given to Mrs. 
Humphreys, to the poor of the congregation, specifying that 
twenty pounds be given to the Widow Glen. His gold-headed 
cane he left to his executor, Mr. William Humphreys. 

At this period, Davies and Tennent were in Great Britain, in be- 
half of the college; and they suspected Cross of having sent to 
Chandler a copy of the Nottingham Sermon. They attributed its 
appearance there to the inveterate malignity of the Philadelphia 
Synod, though it is not unlikely it was officiously dispersed from 
hand to hand by the Rev. William Smith, a Churchman, who was 



JOHN CLEMENT— WILLIAM STEWARD. 3(1 

then in London, zealously moving for the Philadelphia Academy. 
Cross, however, wrote to Scotland to excite prejudice against the 
college and its agents: his letter was put into "sundry hands,"' 
and the Nottingham Sermon was industriously spread at Edin- 
burgh, among the members of the General Assembly. Tennent 
and Davies prepared an answer to the letter, which they stigmatized 
as a malignant, ungenerous, clandestine effort. 



JOHN CLEMENT 



Presented his credentials as a probationer from Britain; and 
they were approved by the synod, September 18, 1718. A call 
was presented for him from Pocomoke, in Virginia, called some- 
timee I loventry, from the parish in which it partly lay, and ordinarily 
Rehoboth, from the place where the meeting-house stood. His 
ordination was appointed to be according to the usual methods, and 
to be performed by Davis, Hampton, and Thomson, and such mem- 
if Newcastle Presbytery as they might choose to call to their 
ince. He was ordained in June, 1719; but scarcely a year 
elapsed before some of his elders sent a written complaint of him 
to the synod. It was given to him, and he prepared a written an- 
swer; but they suspended him. The suspension was taken off on 
his full confession, and Philadelphia Presbytery employed him to 
preach at Gloster and Pilesgrove; but, on inquiry into hie manner 
of life, he was suspended again, and further mention of him ceases. 



WILLIAM STEWARD 

Was received as a probationer on the same day with Clement, 
and, being called to Monokin and Wicomico, was ordained <>n the 

same day with him. For several yean be waited, in the hoi f 

forming a presbytery in the peninsula; but, in ITl'o, by order of 
synod, be joined Newcastle Presbytery. A new meeting-house 
was built at Monokin, on land conveyed by deed, in 17^ (| . The 
congregation had then eight elders. 
• ward died in 17> I. 



372 JOSEPH WEBB — JOHN ORME. 



JOSEPH WEBB, 

The son, probably, of the minister of Green's Farms, Connecti- 
cut, graduated at Yale in 1715, and became a member of synod in 
1720, being the pastor of Newark. He was attended by his elder, 
Caleb Ward. In 1724, he proposed to the synod a case of con- 
science, but in such general and doubtful terms, that it was re- 
mitted to the presbytery. In 1726, a committee of synod, at his 
request, went to Newark to heal the difference there. The synod 
approved in 1727 of its doings. After all the business was done 
that year, Jones, David Evans, Webb, and Hubbel put in a protest, 
declaring their intention to join no more with them. Webb re- 
tracted in two months after. 

As early as 1732, difficulties in his congregation led the Church 
missionaries to commence their service in the town. Dickinson 
preached on the " Vanity of Human Institutions in matters of Re- 
ligion." Colonel Josiah Ogden had been suspended from church 
privileges, because, for fear of losing his hay, he had gathered it in 
on the Lord's day. He wrote to the synod in 1734, and Cross and 
Pemberton replied ; but the letter did not satisfy him. Dickinson 
and Pemberton wrote the next year, Webb having opened the case 
more fully to the synod. Ogden connected himself with the Epis- 
copalians, and a Church missionary was stationed in Newark. 

Webb is said to have been dismissed from his pastoral charge in 
1736 ; his name is mentioned as a member of synod till 1740. He 
was most punctual in bringing collections for the fund. He and 
his son, a student in Yale College, were drowned October 21, 1741, 
while crossing the ferry at Saybrook, Connecticut. 



JOHN ORME, 

A minister from Devonshire, England, was received by the 
synod, September 26, 1720. The congregation of Marlborough on 
Patuxent having, through their correspondents in London, engaged 
him, he became their pastor, and continued with them till his death, 
in 1758. He remained with the Old Side. 

Whitefield preached twice at Upper Marlborough, and wrote, 
December 8, 1739, to Noble, of New York, " This afternoon God 
has brought us hither. Some are solicitous for my staying here 
to-morrow. I have complied with thfiir request. These parts are 
in a dead sleep." 



MOSES DICKINSON. 373 



MOSES DICKINSON, 

A TOUNGBB brother of Jonathan, was bom at Springfield, De- 
cember 12, 1695, his father having lived successively at Hatfield, 
Hadley, and Springfield. He graduated at Yale in 1717, and 
succeeded Orr, in Hopewell and Maidenhead, before September, 
1719, his siekness at that time having detained his brother from 
synod. His first child, Mary, was born August 18, 1721. The 
date of his ordination and installation is not known. He sat in 
Bynod for the first time in 1722. Morgan wrote to Mather, in 
May, 1721, of the astonishing marks of a work of grace around 
him, and which were more plentiful among those who had been 
longer under the means of grace; and, in September, he speaks of 
"magnum incrementum ecclesije" in Dickinson's congregations. 

Hi.- was released fnun Hopewell and Maidenhead before August, 
1727. On the* dismission of Buckingham from Norwalk, in Con- 
necticut, many in the congregation, having heard Gilbert Tennent, 
were desirous of calling him; but the Fairfield Association thought 
ght not tn be taken from so destitute a region as the Jerseys. 
They advised them to call Dickinson, for whom they exp] 

gnat respect and value. He was invited to preach for them, June 

26, 1727. and was called on the lUth of August. Seventy-five 
toted for him, and thirty-nine against him: they) objected to the! 
call, not out of dislike to him, but because they felt bound in con- 
science to regard their previous minister as their pastor. The ad- 
joining pariah of Wilton concurred in the call the next day. The 
•own sent the Ebb. Joseph Piatt to New Jersey to remove Dickin- 
son's family at their expense. 

A large manuscript m in the possession of the Ref!. (u-orgc Hale, 
of Bennington, entitled "Some Meditations on the Occasion of the 
Removal of Mr. Dickinson, in 1727 ; delivered in Hopewell meeting- 
bouse, by BSnooh Armitage." Armitage was an elder, and came 
from Yorkshire in 171 D. 

Dickinson preached the aermonat the ordination of Eliaha Kent, 
in Newtown, Connecticut, hi- predecessor, Mi'. Beach, having gone 
to England and returned with holy orders and a commission as 
a missionary. At Korwalk, an Episcopal separation took place; 
and, among others, Mr. Jarvis, a deacon, withdrew. It is doubtful 
whether Bishop Jan is was baptised before or after bis father took 
this step, and, consequently, whether he erer tasted any other than 
uncovenanted mer 

Dickinson published several Bermons. <>u the death of hi bro- 



!:■ v. Di S rwulk. 



874 THOMAS EVANS. 

ther, he completed his second "Vindication of the Sovereignty of 
Grace." 

Foxcroft, in his preface, highly commends the continuation. 
Dickinson also prepared a treatise on the questions, Whether blind- 
ness of mind is the primary cause of unbelief? and Whether re- 
generation is wrought by the Holy Ghost operating with the gospel, 
whereby the sinner is enlightened and enabled to know the truth? 
He took the affirmative side, in opposition to the new theology then 
coming into vogue. It was read before the Fairfield County As- 
sociation and the trustees of Yale, and was approved by them. 

Early in 1764, he sought an assistant in William Tennent, 
Jr., the son of the patriarch of Freehold ; but, after his removal, 
during the closing years of life, he pursued his work unaided. 

He died May 1, 1778, aged eighty-three. Dr. Trumbull, in pre- 
paring his " History of Connecticut," had access to his manu- 
scripts; but they have been lost or destroyed. 



THOMAS EVANS 



Was received by Newcastle Presbytery as a student from the 
Presbytery of Caermarthen, in Wales; and they recommended 
him, (September 14, 1719,) after appointed trials of his ministerial 
gifts and high satisfaction in his blameless life, as a very hopeful 
candidate. They licensed him, May 28, 1720. The congregation of 
Welsh Tract (where his relatives were among the wealthiest and 
most highly-esteemed people) petitioned for him ; but the pres- 
bytery persevered in efforts to reconcile them to their late pastor, 
David Evans. The call was placed in his hands, March 12, 1723; 
and he was ordained at Pencader, May 8. Proclamation was made 
thrice at the door of the meeting-house, by David Evans, Esq., 
that, if any had allegations to make against his life or doctrine, 
they should do so before the ordination. 

He was the brother* of Nathaniel Evans, a large proprietor in 
Delaware. He was an excellent scholar and a valuable instructor. 
Among his pupils were Abel Morgan, f the Baptist minister of 
Middletown, New Jersey, with whom President Davies acquired 
the rudiments of classic lore, and who maintained a discussion on 
baptism with President Finley. Evans was a bachelor, a book- 



* So I am informed by Joshua Edwards, whose father (Rev. Morgan Edwards) 
took for his second wife the widow of Nathaniel Evans, 
f M. Edwards's History of the New Jersey Baptists. 



ALEXANDER HUTCUESOX. 375 

■worm, possessed a fine library, and was continually adding to his 
store. He was esteemed a truly pious man. 

He was absent from the synod in 1741; but the Old Side ap- 
pointed him, with two others, to defend the "Protestation" in print, 
if need be. He died in 1743. 



ALEXANDER HUTCHESON. 

Tin: Rev. Alexander Hutcheson, of Saintfield, county Down, 
(Ireland.) was one of the ministers of the Synod of Ulster to 
whom Sir Arthur Forbes first spoke of the project of the llegium 
Donum. He died in 1711. Francis Hutcheson, Professor of 
Moral Philosophy in the University of Glasgow, took a deep in- 
in our infant church, and proposed to Francis Alison that 
the Bjnod Bhould establish a seminary of learning. 

Wnen Alexander Hutcheson was received by Newcastle Presby- 
tery as a probationer from Glasgow Presbytery, (September 10, 
17:^.) they transmitted a formal vote of thanks to that body for 
sending him to these parts. After supplying Drawyers, he was 
called (March 1_, 1723) to Bohemia Manor and Broad Creek, in 
ranty, Maryland. After proclamation made, no objections 
being offered, he was ordained, June <!. Hie people were not 
numerous or wealthy, and he asked to be dismissed; but the pres- 
bytery declined, and gave him aid out of the fond, and left him at 

liberty for one-third OX his time to supply vacancies which desired 
him. 

II". with Gillespie, dissented from the act requiring a synodical 
examination of candidates for the ministry; and they withdrew 
with the Brunswioi brethren. Hntoheeon wrote to the Synod of 
Philadelphia, expressing his opinion of the proceedings of both 
parties, and giving his advice. 

Augustin Herman, a Bohemian, a. Large land-purchaser, was 
"the first founder and Beater of Bohemia Manor." The "Manor" 
■ thousand acres, [n Whitefield's day, it was one 
of the most interesting portions of oui country. The Bayard 
family were his ehoicesl friends. He wrote from there, April 26, 
17 17. "After two days' abode here, 1 purpose taking a three 

circuit in hunting for Maryland sinners." 1754: " 
I into Maryland, and into a family out of which five, I 

trust, have been horn of { '"»\. To-day 1 -.nn forty." From St. 
_!, L740: — ••We have had precious ti 



376 ALEXANDER HUTCHESON. 

Bohemia. There were two thousand people present. I have not 
Been a more solid melting since my arrival." 

There is no mention, in print, of Hutcheson's having had a part 
in this good work ; every thing was swallowed up in Whitefield. 
His influence was like the long summer-rain on the field where 
others have cleared away the forest, gathered out the stones, 
ploughed thoroughly, and cast in abundantly and in season the 
good seed, which is the word of God. The rapid bursting forth 
of vegetation followed the rain : other men had laboured, and he 
entered on their labours. 

In 1750, soon after the settlement of Dr. Rodgers at St. 
George's, Robert Alexander made a deed of a lot to Peter 
Bayard, James Bayard, Sluyter Bouchell, Benjamin Sluyter, Wil- 
liam Moore, John Moody, James Chew, Thomas Rothwell, and 
John Vandyke, trustees of the Forest Congregation, incorporated 
as the " Congregation of Bohemia and Appoquinimy." The ser- 
vices of Dr. Rodgers attracted to the Forest Church so many from 
Bohemia and Drawyers that they were in danger of becoming ex- 
tinct. Hugh McWhorter, who had been an elder of Hutcheson's, 
(the father of Dr. McWhorter, of Newark,) became an elder at 
the Forest. Hutcheson died in October, 1766. 

Emigration to Virginia and North Carolina reduced the congre- 
gations rapidly. In April, 1770, Bohemia Manor and Back 
Creek* petitioned Newcastle Presbytery to be considered as a 
separate congregation; but no subsequent mention of them by 
name is made. 

The Bohemia Church stood near Taylor's Bridge, and remained 
until 1809; only the tombstones are left now. Mr. Foot, of 
Port Penn, after much search, could not learn so much as the 
name of Hutcheson, or hear any mention of Whitefield's success 
in Bohemia. 

An elder at Bohemia, on Hutcheson's settlement, was Dr. Peter 
Bouchelle; another was John Brevard, | whose son Ephraim is so 
honourably connected with the movement in Mecklenburg, North 
Carolina, for the assertion of our independence; another was 
Manasseh Logue. 



* Mr. Foot, of Port Perm, says the Forest Church -worshipped at Back Creek 
and St. George's till 1750. 

f Brevard and Bouchelle were of Huguenot descent, as also was the Bassot 
family and the Bayards. Mr. Brevard, on the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes, 
fled to Ulster, and then settled on Elk River, Maryland. He had five sons. Of 
these, John married a sister of the Rev. Dr. Macwhorter, of Newark, and removed 
to North Carolina, in the neighbourhood of Centre Church, in Iredell county. At 
the close of his days, his house, with its contents, were burned by the British, as a 
punishment for having eight sons in the rebel camp. General Davidson, who waa 
killed at Cowan's Ford, on the Catawba, was his son-in-law. — Wheeler's Sketches of 
North Carolina. 



ROBERT LAING — JOHN WALTON. 377 



ROBERT LAIXG, 

A minister from Great Britain, arrived in Maryland in 17:22, 
and supplied Snow Hill. In March, he removed to Brandywine 
and White Clay. In August, Ik- was suspended for bathing on 
tilt.- Lord's day, and, not receiving the sentence in a becoming 
manner, he was deposed. Thomas Evans and Robert Cross ob- 
jected to BO heavy a punishment; and the synod, on the ground 
that he had sought relief under sickness by a water-cure, took off 
the sentence and rebuked him. In 172*3, he, with the Bynod's 
advice, demitted the ministry, because of his weakness and defi- 
ciency; aid was given him out of the fund; and assurance was 
given that any minister prudently ministering to his necessities 
shuuld be reimbursed. He passed out of notice. 



JOHN WALTON 



Graduated at Yale in 1720. Morgan wrote to Mather* from 
Ka-t < Shester, May 28, 1721, that there had formerly been n<> IV -- 
byterian congregations within twenty miles of Freehold on the 
north and .-i.xty on the south. "Our ministrations were as little 
desired as enjoyed] but now, new congregations (Allentown, or 
Crosswicks, and Cranberry) are formed, where formerly the people 

thought US as bad aliiio-t as Papists. [engaged I look, the two 
Dickinsons, ami Webb, to preach to them: the appearances were 
enOOUraging. I also prevailed with one from Yale, of my own 

town born, (New London,) and he had double the good effeel of 

all that were there before; but BOffiC things will make his labour 

useless." 

Morgan wrote to Blather, October 8t, 1722, "Walton's 

preaching Was admired. People heard him with tears. lie had 
like to have brought over all the people to our way: and his 
iuiprudeneies and wickedness Bft Q1QQII to be admired," (won- 
dered at.) 

Andrews wrote to Oolman, April 80, 1 7 _' J , "<>ne from Con- 
necticut, that w;i< like in h:i\e don.- much L r 1 jjj t he .1, 

. hi- aontengioal importunities and madness, lost bis honour, 
* MutluT MBft American Antiquarian E 



378 JOHN WALTON. 

and is gone." He had been preaching at Crosswicks; and the 
Presbytery of Philadelphia, in his absence, took the testimony, 
suspended him, and published the sentence from the pulpit in 
which he had preached. Subsequently the charges against him 
were regularly adjudicated and proved. His conduct to the pres- 
bytery, and his mode of speaking of them, were abusive and 
unbecoming. The synod had a conference with him privately, and 
allowed him several days to consider and prepare a written ac- 
knowledgment of his misdemeanours. His paper was accepted 
pro tanto, and he was suspended for three Sabbaths.* His con- 
fession was to be read on the third Sabbath after the sentence, 
from the pulpit in Newark, in part, so far as related to his offences 
there. He was to own the confession publicly, and then to be ab- 
solved. On the day appointed, no minister being present, he 
read his confession and absolved himself. The synod refused to 
acknowledge such a proceeding, and remitted the case to Long 
Island Presbytery, with Dickinson, Morgan, and Pierson as corre- 
spondents. Regardless of the synod, he preached at East Chester. 
The committee, in October, 1723, were informed (by letter and 
otherwise) of several scandalous allegations against him, and con- 
tinued his suspension. When Morgan rose to give him an exhor- 
tation, he exclaimed against their conclusion, renounced all sub- 
jection to them, told them he wanted no exhortation from them, 
and rushed away in an angry manner. 

Immediately he advertised that he would teach in New York, 
on Broad Street, near the Exchange, Latin, Greek, and Hebrew; 
and that during the winter he would keep an evening school. 

In 1725, he requested the synod to leave his case to the Pres- 
bytery of Long Island ; but they consigned it to the same com- 
mittee as before. 

He went to West Chester county, and preached at Rye and 
White Plains. It seems probable that, during the ministry of the 
Rev. Christopher Bridge, Church missionary at Rye, there was a 
general acquiescence of the town. On his death, in 1719, the 
people desired Poyer, of Jamaica, f to come to them : he requested 
the Venerable Society to send him, because the congregation said, 
if they could not have him, they knew whom they would have, — 
Mr. Buckingham, of Norwalk. 

"The humble Memorial of the Presbyterians of Rye and White 
Plains" to| the Governor of Connecticut and the Legislature, 
dated May 11, 1727, is headed by John Walton, and is signed by 



* Morgan says, "We, who went out, (Philadelphia Presbytery,) wondered 
that the synod restored him. Pious Mr. Gillespie entered his dissent." 
j MSS. in hands of Henry Onderdonk, Esq., of Jamaica. 
% MSS. in Secretary's Office, Hartford. 



WILLIAM M.MILLAX. 879 

fifty others. It embraces names long familiar in West Chester, as 
Theall, Brundige, Lane, Purdy, Knapp, Hyatt, Bloomer, Turner, 
Ilorton, Travis, llachiliah Brown, Sharkoe, Kniffin, Haight, 
Men-it, and Lyon. They were obliged to pay to the support of 
the Church of England, — " our way is not established;" and they 
were opposed by the Church parly, who lessened their number and 
too much strove to discourage and hinder; but they persevered 
because of their love of God's honour, and out of regard of the 
peace of their immortal souls. They formerly had hopes of 
settling a meeting-house, and had got timber; but through long 
delay it rotted. They had begun a meeting-house at "White Plains, 
and had covered it, but were in debt for part, and unable to finish 
it. Besides, they wished to build a meeting-house at Ryetown, six 
miles from White Plains. They ask that a brief may pass through 
the colony for their relief, and that the collections be paid to Mr. 
Davenport, of Stamford. 

••Oh, consider the indefatigable industry of the Church of Eng- 
land to help poor places Have you a little sister without any 

What shall ye do for your sister in the day that she is 

spoken for? If she be a door, will ye not enclose her with boards 

lar? .... Is not one soul worth ten thousand worlds? Can 

you be easy while wo perish? Surely, no." They add, "We 

have made up a small yearly competent salary for a minister." 

The Legislature refused the request. The trustees of Yale 
encouraged them to rt-new their application; and they held ''an 
orderly meeting," October 4, 17^7 ; and, "as we have no law 

authorising ua to appoint a moderator," the proceedings were certi- 
fied by "our justice, Caleb Hyatt." They add, that they are 
required to rebuild the Church of England. The trustees of Yale 
sent the Rev. Mr. Davenport, of Stamford, to present the petition 

to the house, and it was granted. The church was built at Bye, 
in May, 17-!'. 1 ; and Walton disappears from view. 

Did he become a Bapti.-t minister, and settle at Morristown, 
Jersey, and die there, 1768 ?* 



william McMillan. 

It was b Bad thing for our cause in Virginia that early death 
should our Labourers there. There were many dis- 

contents to hinder candidates from Bottling among the FeW 

people favouring our way in Uappalianiioek and York, or the .-mall 
* Bills of Mortality of Morrlatown, N' n Jersey. 



<580 william McMillan. 

congregation on Elizabeth River. The former had obtained the 
promise of Anderson's service; but, when he came from Scotland, 
he felt no inclination to abide with them. A representation was 
made by some of the members of synod in 1722, "of the earnest 
desire of some Protestant Dissenting families in Virginia, together 
with a comfortable prospect of the increase of our interest there." 
Conn, of Bladensburg, Orme, of Marlborough, and Stewart, of 
Monokin, each spent four weeks there. The people of Virginia 
wrote to the synod in 1724 ; Jonathan Dickinson was recommended 
to spend some Sabbaths with them, and the three brethren in 
Maryland were appointed each to preach for them four Sabbath 
days. Jones and Andrews wrote to the people, and Dickinson and 
Cross prepared an address to the Governor of Virginia. Only 
Orme went. The people again wrote, and the synod referred the 
whole affair to the Presbytery of Newcastle. That body had met 
two days before, on the 14th of September, 1724; and, "a repre- 
sentation* being made of Mr. Wm. McMillan to the presbytery, aa 
a fit and hopeful candidate for the ministry, they, being satisfied 
with his testimonials, order him to deliver a sermon on Gen. xxxiii. 
2, at our next, and till then defer his extemporary trials. 

" September 17. — Mr. McMillan delivered a popular sermon on 
Gen. xxxiii. 2, and underwent some tryals in extemporary questions, 
as appointed, in both which he was approven : the further con- 
sideration of his affair is deferred till our next sederunt at White 
Clay Creek. 

" September 22. — The affair of Mr. McMillan being reassumed, 
the presbytery took tryal of him in the learned languages, and 
were highly satisfied ; and, considering the difficulties he lies under 
to attend another dyet for further tryals, together with the cleso- 
lateness of the people at Virginia, and being fully satisfied with 
the tryals they have taken of him, do allow and license him to 
preach the gospel of Christ." He then subscribed a declaration 
of his adherence to the Westminster Confession, being the first 
who is recorded to have done so. 

He was ordered to supply the people of Virginia during his 
abode there, — Mr. Stewart to give them one Sabbath in October, 
and Mr. Conn one Sabbath in May. 

Of him we know nothing further; nor has the locality been 
ascertained, which is designated as "Virginia." In the March 
following his licensure, the people of Coventry petitioned for sup- 
plies, — making it probable that it was Rehoboth, on Pocomoke, in 
Coventry parish, with Accomac county, which contained "the 
people of Virginia." Occasional supplies were sent to them till 1727. 



* Kindly transcribed for me, from the Records, by the Rev. R. P. Dubois, of 
London. 



THOMAS CKEAGHEAD. 381 



THOMAS CREAGHEAD 

Es said by some to have been a native of Scotland. He was 
probably the son of Robert Creaghead, the minister of Donough- 
more. He was at Londonderry in the time of the siege : he left 
the city in the midBt of that fearful and protracted leaguer, and 
removed to Glasgow. His little work for communicants is practical, 
valuable, and still frequently reprinted. 

Thomas Creaghead is Baid to have studied medicine as well as 
divinity ; and, after being settled in Ireland for ten or twelve years, 
he came, in 1715, te New England. He was employed in the minis- 
try at Freetown, near Fall River, Massachusetts. Cotton Mather* 
wrote to Mr. Hathaway, 22nd, Fifth month, 1718, regretting that 
unkind treatment of some of the people had prevented the settle- 
ment of that gentleman's gracious and worthy relative in Freetown. 
" Y" i will excuse me that I earnestly entreat you to give a demon- 
stration of the wisdom that is from above, and encourage Mr. 
rhead in the work in which he is now engaged."' 21st, Fifth 
month, 1719: "You can't be insensible that the minister whom 
our glorious Lord hath graciously sent among you, is a man of an 
excellent spirit, and a great Meaning to your plantation. Mr. 
1 sad is a man of singular piety, meekness, humility, and in- 

dustry in the work of God. All that are acquainted with him have 
ma esteem of him, and if he should be driven from among 
you, it would be such a damage, yea, such a ruin, as is not with- 
out horror to be thought of." These entreaties were vain. Oreag- 
head left in 1723, and is said, in President Stiles's papers, to have 
gone to th" .!• n 

the Baptist historian, said that he treated the people so 

abusively for their neglect to clear olf the arrears, that they, in 

-•. would Dot consent to settle another minister. They who 

Wrong a minister of his salary are never bIok to rob him of his 

;_' 1 name. They continued twenty-five years without the stated 

ministration of the gospel, chiefly through unwillingness to pay s 
regular salary. A I sgregationa] church was organised in 1747, 
and the Rev. Bilae Brett was settled, bit support not being col- 
lected as a tax, but contributed at each man's pleasure. After 
thirty yean of faithful labour, he was dJsmissed. The church sever 
had another pastor, and became extinot after the Revolution. 
1 tghead was received by Newcastle Presbytery, Jan. 28, l T _j I , 

and James Smith and .John Huge appeared as commissioner.-, from 



• M U Antiquarian 8ocicty 



882 THOMAS CREAGHEAD. 

Elk, with a call for him. The next month, John Montgomery and 
John Campbell presented a call for him from White Clay. He 
accepted it, having leave to supply Brandywine every third Sab- 
bath ; he was installed, Sept. 22, Hutcheson officiating. In No- 
vember, 1728, his people, being now able to make up his full sup- 
port, asked for the whole of his time : the request was granted ; 
but he was directed to supply Brandywine every fifth Sabbath, and 
to catechize there as formerly. 

He removed to Lancaster county, and in September, 1733, a 
call from Pequea being presented to Donegal Presbytery by Patrick 
Moor, commissioner, he accepted it, and was installed on Wednes- 
day, the last day of October. 

Donegal Presbytery always speak of him as " Father Creaghead," 
and his name stands first on their book, and on that of Newcastle, 
among the subscribers to the Confession. 

His people having besought the presbytery to meet with them 
and hear their complaint against him, the case was opened in May, 
1736. The charge was that he had suspended his wife from church 
privileges without consulting the session : he replied that, the reason 
for this being known only to himself, the session were not compe- 
tent to advise ; besides, he had not resolved on it till the Satur- 
day night preceding the sacrament. The presbytery judged that 
he was under a delusion or delirium of the head, and directed him 
to restore her, and not to insist on having his son John and his 
wife live under his roof.* His usefulness being at an end, he was 
dismissed, Sept. 7, 1736," and was sent to supply Monada, (now 
Hanover,) Paxton, and Conedoguinnet. In November, Robert 
Henry presented a call for him from Hopewell. The difficulties 
about the boundaries of Hopewell and Pennsborough were settled 
by allowing the former to build at the Great Spring ; from which 
it has since borne the name of Big Spring. Anderson and Thom- 
son objected to allowing him to preach until the trouble in his 
family was allayed. After considerable discussion, Mrs. Creag- 
head, being present, was asked, and she said she had no cause for 
complaint against her husband. Alexander Creaghead was ap- 
pointed to install him ; but, failing to do so, the service Avas per- 
formed by Bertram, of Derry, on the second Friday in October, 
1738. He is said to have expired in the pulpit, dropping dead 
after pronouncing the benediction, at the close of April, 1739. 
He lies without a monument, being buried, it is said, under the 
corner-stone of the present meeting-house at Big Spring. 

He is said to have been accompanied from New England by his 
younger brother, who settled first at Donegal and was one of the 
first who removed to the vicinity of Carlisle. His family is ex- 
tensively spread through Western Pennsylvania. 

* Their dwelling at the Head of Pequea. 



JOSEPH HOUSTON. 3S3 

Thomas Creaghead is said to have left five children, — George, 
Thomas, John, Margaret, and Jane, wife of Rev. Adam Boyd. 
George probably remained in Delaware when his father removed 
to Pequea, and was a judge, and. in 1770, an elder from Lower 
Brandywine. He was speaker of the Council at the adoption of 
the Federal Constitution. His son, Captain William Creaghead, 
removed to Virginia, was an elder in Da vies 'a Church in Hanover, 
and died at an advanced age in Lunenburg county, — a man of great 
intelligence, public spirit, and piety.* 

Family tradition represents one of Thomas Creaghead's sons to 
have been a minister in Lancaster county, Pennsylvania, — making 
it probable that Alexander Creaghead, of Middle Octorara, was 
his son. 

Creaghead was one of the pioneers of the Irish Presbyterians in 
Not England : he was employed by our presbyteries to correspond 
with ministers on their arrival there, lie wrote to the Rev. John 
McKinstry, afterwards of Ellington, Connecticut, and to the Rev. 
John Campbell, afterwards of Oxford, Massachusetts, to come to 
these parts : 1"' also wrote in L736, in the synod's name, to Boston, 
to the newly-formed Presbyterian congregation there. 



JOSEPH HOUSTON 



Came from Ireland to New England and was received by Newcastle 
tery as a probationer, July 29, ITi'l, was employed at New 
London, ( 'onneeticiit.t during the absence of Mr. ffillhouse in his 
native land. After preaching for a few months at Elk River, An- 
drew Steel and Roger Lawson, commissioners From that congrega- 
tion, presented a <-u 1 1 for him in September. I [e accepted it, ( ><-t. 5, 
and Robert Finney, with two other commissioners, petitioned that 
.lit be ordained Bpeedily. fie was ordained on the 15th. 

In March, IT-'''', tin- presbytery proceeded to heal the difference 
which hail arisen on "settling the Beats" in the meeting-house on 
the branches of Elk. They ordained that the minister's Beat should 
be on the right of the pulpit ; that William Finney should have 
bis choice of the igned to William Eloge and Andrew 

Steel ; and that Roger Law-on an<l Abraham Emmet Bhould ex- 
chanj 

who knew him well and rained him highly, mention! him in hi* 

! i the in -i t" broach U our c>- 

lottred i • kthera. 

] M.- - - offloe, lie 



384 ADAM BOYD. 

A long, wearisome, and unwise contest grew out of Houston's un- 
willingness to give a part of his time to the people living on the 
northeast of Great Elk. He and the body of his people opposed 
the erection of a meeting-house there, and were at last contented 
to admit, that they had received no damage, from establishing a 
separate congregation at New London. 

He was installed pastor of Goodwill or Wallkill congregation, in 
Orange county, New York, before May, 1740, and died in the fol- 
lowing October, aged forty-eight.* 

In 1743, the synod agreed to remit his bond, dated July 25, 
1740, in favour of his widow and family. His descendants still 
remain in Orange county. 



ADAM BOYD 



Was born at Ballymoney, Ireland, in 1692, and came to New Eng- 
land as a probationer in 1722 or '23; and, being minded to return 
to his native country, he was furnished by Cotton Mather with a 
commendatory certificate^ dated June 10, 1724. Having formed 
an attachment to a daughter of Mr. Creaghead's, he relinquished 
his design, and was received under the care of Newcastle Presby- 
tery in July. He was sent to Octorara, with directions to supply 
Newcastle and Conestoga. In September, Arthur Park and Cor- 
nelius Rowan presented a call for him from Octorara and 
"Pikquae," which he accepted in October, and Cornelius Rowan 
and John Dever appeared as representatives to solicit his ordi- 
nation. He was ordained on the 13th at Octorara, Creaghead, 
Gillespie, Hook, Thomas Evans, and Hutcheson, with his elder, 
Dr. Peter Bouchelle, being present. 

Sadsbury is the township, and Octorara the stream, which give 
names to the congregation. They had supplies from 1721, and had 
been directed to "gratify" the ministers sent to them and not let 
them go home unpaid. In Oct. 1727, the families on the west side of 
Octorara asked for one-third of his labours, and it appeared they could 
raise fifty-one pounds. It being shown that the site selected for their 
meeting-house was nine miles distant by one road and eleven miles 
by another, from the Octorara house, Boyd was directed to spend 
every sixth Sabbath at Middle Octorara ; Nottingham being called 
the Mouth of Octorara, or Lower Octorara. The Forks of Brandy- 
wine composed part of his field till 1734. 

* Eager's History of Orange County, 
f Mather MSS. Am. Antiq. Soc. 



ADAM BOYD. 0S0 

Ten days after his ordination. Oct. 23, 1725, Boyd married Jane, 
the daughter of Creaghead, of White Clay. 

Alexander Creaghead, her relative, if not her brother, became 
the minister of the adjoining congregation of Middle Octorara. 
In the progress of the Great Revival, a large portion of Boyd's 
congregation Left him and joihed the Brunswick brethren. He 
therefore asked leave, Aug. IT, 1741, to accept the invitation 
given him by the fraction of Brandywine which adhered to the Old 
Bide, and which offered him twenty pounds for half of his time. 

At this period commences Boyd's account-book, full of minute 
memoranda, extending down to his last days. He had used the 
book for his exercises while in the grammar-school; it contains 
several sermons, in cramped, abbreviated letters. The first 
entry is : — 

"Fforks records, fro., commencing 11th August, 1741." 
It embraces the payments of each subscriber, with the offsets, the 
time of their death or removal, and the attending circumstances. 

He -ays his nlation to Forks was dissolved "most irregularly in 
in 1758, ' and that on the 1st of September, Octorara engaged to 
pay for two-thirds of his time He had been joined by the synod 

1 1 Newcastle Presbytery, on account of the fewness of the members ; 

and on the union, he Beems to have acted harmoniously and eoni- 
ft>] t ihly with his brethren, though the majority was of the New Side. 

At the close of his life, he asked supplies for his pulpit ; and the 
New-Side congregation, being vacant by the death of Sterling, united 
with his people in calling Foster. Robert Smith, of Pequea, pre- 
sided on this occasion, May 2, 1768; and it was agreed to pay 

Boyd twenty-five pounds yearly during his life. He was able to be 
- ordination, and died Nov. 23, 1768. His widow 

BUrvived till Nov. 6, 1 7 7 '. • . lie left five daughters and five BOM. 

The eldest, John, is said to have been licensed, and to have died 

: ThomU Bettled on a plantation, given him by his father: 

Andrew remained upon the homestead; Adam resided in Wilming- 
ton, N.C., and commenced the Cape Fear Mercury,* in Oct. L767; 
he iras a true friend of liberty, " much respected, and was a leading 
member of the Committee of Safety. ' lie engaged to resume the 
publication of his paper, dan. 80, 177~>, and. the next year, ex- 
changed the press for the pulpit, lie was chaplainf of the North 
Carolina Brigade. 
Samuel, the youngest, entered Mi'. McDowell's school at ! 



*<',.-. ipatton of North Carolina by the British, in 

the .v.rth Carolina Union bfagaslna. Wheeler, in hi- Sketohea "i N 
eaUs him an Bngliahman. Colonel Andrew Boyd, of Octorara, irril 
fher in law of tin* war in the Soothern colonies, mentions the report thai the Ui- 
mington, "Where, mj brother Adam la 
•: Bavin. 



386 NOYES PARRIS — NATHANIEL HUBBELL. 

the summer of 1760, and became a student in the College of Phila- 
delphia in 1764. He entered on the practice of medicine, and re- 
moved to Virginia. 

He was a man of property, and of great exactness, recording in 
what articles his salary was paid ; thus, John Long paid by publi- 
cations (as a magistrate) of marriages and estrays, and by a riddle. 
His hearers seem to have been uniformly commendable in regard 
to his support : several remembered him, in their dying testaments, 
by small bequests. Many of them removed over the river, and to 
Virginia and North Carolina. 

His marriage-portions to his daughters were large, according to 
the notions of that day, and show the thoughtfulness as well as the 
liberality of the parents. A few of his sermons are in my hands. 

On his tombstone is engraved : — " Forty-four years pastor of this 
church." 



NOYES PARRIS 

Was the son of the Rev. Samuel Parris, of Salem village, Massa- 
chusetts, so mournfully conspicuous in giving life and vehemence to 
the delusion and the judicial murders for witchcraft. He was born 
in 1692, and graduated at Harvard in 1721. He preached at 
Cohanzy from 1724 to 1729, when, having fallen under serious 
imputations, he in a disorderly manner withdrew to New England. 
Dickinson was directed to write to Boston and state the circum- 
stances. 



NATHANAEL HUBBELL 

Graduated at Yale in 1723, and became the pastor of "West- 
field and Hanover, New Jersey, in 1727, — the latter including the 
present congregations of Morristown, Chatham, and Parsippany. 
The Westfield* congregation gave him, as " a settlement" on his 
accepting their call, one hundred acres of their parsonage-lands in 
fee-simple. "A settlement" in land or money was the uniform 



* Rev. Jas. M. Huntting's Historical Discourse at Westfield. It would appear that 
Hanover did the same. His house having been burned, Mr. Budd made a new deed. 
— Rev. Jos. F. Tuttle, Rockaway, New Jersey. 



GILBERT TEXXEXT. 387 

New England custom, and was frequent in Pennsylvania, it being 
understood that the minister was to spend hia days in their service. 
At Westfield, all who chose bound themselves by a covenant to be 
1 according to their property, to make up whatever was de- 
ficient in the pastor's salary. 

The first time Hubbcll met with the synod, he put in a protest 
with Webb and other-, and seems for years to have relinquished all 
•Onneetion with it. In 17o2, his name appears again on the Re- 
cur 1-. hut generally as an absentee. In 1730, he gave up the 
charge of Hanover. 

J I.- was present as a correspondent at the meeting of the com- 
mission in Hemphill's case; and, in one of the pamphlets in defence 
of that unworthy man, it is said that Ilubbell avowed that "any 
method of promoting a good cause was innocent and lawful." 

He prosecuted a claim for arrears, which led to his dismission in 
17-1"'. ju-t before his death. 



GILBERT TENNENT, 

The oldest son of Tennent, of Neshaminy, was born in the county 
Armagh,* Feb. ."i, 17<)-'5, before Ins father entered into orders. 

He was converted, through the exertions of his father, at the age 
of fourteen, while crossing the Atlantic. He was educated by him, 
and was licensed by Philadelphia Presbytery in May, 1725. He 
ed in tin- i'all the degree of A.M. from Yale. The honorary 
of Master of Arts was conferred by that institution for the 
• iic in 1774, and he was tin- third person on whom it was be- 
stowed, lb' W8jS ••allnl, |),-c. l^'.l, fco N e\\ca-1 ]o, and, after remain- 
ns time, abruptly left. The congregation and the Presbytery 
of Newcastle complained of his departure; and a Letter was pro- 
duced, declaring qui acceptance of the call. The Bynod concluded 

that his conduct was tOO hasty and unadvised; and the moderator 

reproved him, and exhorted him to use more deliberation and cau- 
tion in future. The rebuke was, Bharp, and he took it meeily.f 

lie was ordained a1 New Brunswick, by Philadelphia Presbytery, 
in the fall of L726. lie would hare been called Boon after 1 to Nor- 
walk,had not the Fairfield Association interposed their judgment that 
he ought not to be taken from -■, destitute b region as the Jerseys. 

When he went to Ne* Brunswick, he found there several excel- 
lent persons who had been converted under the ministry of the 

" £«• 
| \is. Beooi i- of v 



388 GILBERT TEXXENT. 

Rev. Theodoras Jacobus Frelinghuysen.* That good man sent him 
a letter on the necessity of rightly dividing the word, which ex- 
cited in him a greater earnestness of labour. He was distressed at 
his want of success : though greatly admired and very popular as a 
preacher, there was no instance of a saving change in any of his 
hearers during the first year and a half after his settlement. A 
severe fit of sickness gave him affecting views of eternity, and he 
was exceedingly grieved that he had done so little for God. On 
recovering, he examined many professing Christians, and found 
their hope to rest on sand. With these he dealt faithfully. Some 
were apparently converted ; but others turned to be his enemies. 
He preached much on original sin, repentance, and the nature and 
the necessity of conversion : a considerable number around were 
hopefully converted, and at sacramental seasons there were fre- 
quently signal displays of the divine presence and power. " New 
Brunswick did then look like a field the Lord has blessed. Alas ! 
now (1744) the scene is altered." 

At Staten Island, — one of the places where he statedly laboured, — 
there was, in 1728 or '29, a more general concern ; and pretty many 
were converted. Once, while preaching from Amos vi. 1, the people, 
careless before, were so affected, that they fell on their knees to cry 
for mercy,and the general inquiry was, " What shall I do to be saved ?" 

In 1738, he laid before the synod "sundry large letters" which 
had passed between him and Cowell, of Trenton, on the subject of 
the true motive that should influence our obedience to God : whether 
it should be wholly a desire for God's glory, or whether, with this 
desire, there should be a desire for our own happiness : Is disinte- 
rested benevolence the essence of holiness ? The large committee 
to whom the papers were referred, heard both parties, and delayed 
their decision for a year. They presented a wise, happy statement 
of the true doctrine ; but it did not satisfy Tennent. He again in- 
troduced the business in 1740 ; but the synod, by a large majority, 
refused to consider it. This he represented in his paper, which he 
read a few days after, on the deplorable state of the ministry, as a 
slighting and shuffling the late debate about the glory of God, and 
as sanctioning the doctrine that there is no difference between 
seeking the glory of God and our own happiness, and that self- 
love is the foundation of all obedience. 

At this time, he corresponded with Ralph and Ebenezer Erskine ; 
and Whitefield, in giving them his advice, enforces it by saying, 
" Our dear brother and fellow-labourer, Mr. G. Tennent, thinks 
the same, and said he would write to you about it." 

On hearing Tennent preach, Whitefield said, "Never before 
heard I such a searching sermon. He went to the bottom indeed, 
and did not daub with untempered mortar. He convinced me more 

* His Letter in the Christian History. 



GILBERT TBSFNBNT. 389 

and more that we can preach the gospel no further than we have 

experienced the power of it in our hearts. I found what a babe 

arid novice I was in the things of God. He is a son of thunder, 

preaching must either convert or enrage hypocrites." 

Whitefield preached, Nov. 20, "about noon, for near two hours, 
in worthy Mr. Tennent's meeting-house, to a large assembly ga- 
thered from all parts ; and amongst them, as he told me, there was 
a gr^at body of solid Christians; and again at three and seven. 
1 were brought under strong convictions, and our Lord's 
disciples were ready bo leap for joy." Tennent sent him word, 
Dec. 1, 1739: — " Since yen was here, I have been among my people, 
dealing with them plainly about their souls' state, examining them as 
to their experience, telling natural people the danger of their state, 
exhorting them that were totally secure to seek convictions and 
those that wen.- convinced to seek Jesus. I reproved pious people 
f.r their faults. There are hopeful appearances among pretty 
many in the place I belong to." In April, it was said two had 
Mtvingly converted in November. 

Whitefield wrote to him from Williamsburg, Virginia, Dec. 1">, 
X739, " I5e Dot angry because you have not heard from me. In* 
. 1 love and honour you in the bowels of Jesus Christ. You 
are seldom out of my thoughts. J trust the work goes on glo- 
riously in your parts: the hand of the Lord brought wondrous 

things to pass before we left Pennsylvania Last night I 

read the affecting account of your brother John. Let me die the 
death of that righteous man. Oh, my dear friend, my brother, en- 
treat the Lord that I may grow in grace and pick up the fragments 
of my time that nothing may be lost. Teach me, oh, teach me 
the way of <!<h1 more perfectly. Rebuke, reprove, exhort me with 
all Long-suffering and doctrine: I feel I am but a babe in Christ. 
1 only wish 1 was more worthy to Subscribe myself your affection- 
ate brother and servant in ( Ihrist." 

From New Brunswick, April 28, 1740, he writes, "God has now 
brought me lier<-, where 1 am blessed with the conversation of Mr. 
Tennent. [nd 1, be is a good soldier of Jesus; and God is pleased 

in ■ wonderful manner tO own him and his brctlm-n. The C 

gations where they have preached have I n surprisingly convicted 

and melted down. They are unwearied in doing good, and ;j>< out 
into tin- highways and hedges to oompel poor ainnere t i come in." 

To Mr. Habersham be wrote from Savannah, June 26, 1740, 
'•I like the Messrs. Tennent for preaching in this manner. They 
wound deep before they beal ; they know there is no promise made 
but to him that believeth, and therefore they are careful nol to 
comfort overmuch those that are convicted. 1 fear I have been 
incautious in this respect, and have often given comfort too Boon.*' 

To Mr. B , in Philadelphia, be wrote from Charleston, July 11, 

1740, "Koep ol ur friend, keep close to the dear Mr. 



390 GILBERT TENNENT. 

Tennents. Under God, they will build up your soul on your most holy 
faith. It gladdens my heart to hear of their success in the Lord." 
Whitefield went to New Brunswick, Nov. 6, and Tennent, of 
Freehold, met him, besides other ministers. It was settled that 
Gilbert should go to Boston, though he pleaded inability for so 
great a work. His first wife had lately died; and he was so much 
supported that he was able to preach her funeral sermon while she 
lay before him in the coffin. 

Whitefield wrote to Governor Belcher, at Boston, from Philadel- 
phia, Nov. 9, " Great things has the great Immanuel done for me and 
for this people by the way. The word has been attended with 
much power. Surely our Lord intends to set America in a flame. 
This week, Mr. Tennent proposes to set out for Boston; to blow up 
the divine flame lately kindled there. I recommend him to your 
excellency as a solid, judicious, excellent preacher. He will be 
ready to preach daily." 

Tennent took Long Island in his way ; and his labours were 
greatly blessed. At Newport, there was a considerable concern. 
He preached at Westerly, Rhode Island, from Matt. xi. 28, in going, 
and, returning, from Gen. iii. 9 ; rousing up the people, and filling 
Borne with great wrath. He waked up the conscience. 

He arrived at Boston, Dec. 13. His first sermon was on " The 
Righteousness of the Scribes," and was speedily printed. It was a 
period of protracted and unexampled cold ; Long Island Sound 
was frozen across. The Rev. Dr. Cutler, Church missionary at 
Boston, laments to the Venerable Society that " Gilbert Tennent* 
afflicted us more than the most intense cold and snow. Though 
vulgar, crude, and boisterous, yet tender and delicate persons were 
not deterred from hearing him at every opportunity. The ill 
effects of Whitefield's visit might have worn off, if his followers 
could have been preserved from writing; but they carried on his 
design with too great success." Dr. Cutler said to Dr. Zachary 
Grey, (Nicholls's Lit. Anecdotes,) "Whitefield has plagued us with 
a vengeance, especially his friends and followers. Our presses are 
forever teeming with books. . . . While he was here, the town was 
as if it were in a siege ; the streets were crowded with coaches 
and chaises. He lashed and anathematized the Church of Eng- 
land. After him came one Tennent, a minister, impudent and 
saucy, and told them they were damned. This charmed them ; and, 
in the dreadfullest winter I ever saw, people wallowed in the snow 
day and night, for the benefit of his beastly brayings. Many 
ended their days under these fatigues. Both W. and T. carried more 
money out of these parts than the poor could be thankful for." He 
preached for nearly two months. The assemblies had been full from 
the time Whitefield preached ; but under Tennent, the concern be- 

* Hawkins. — Albany Documents. 



GILBERT XBNHIBT. 391 

came more general and powerful. From the deep and terrible con- 
victions he had passed through, he had such a lively sense of the 
divine majesty, holiness, and justice, that the very terrors of God 
seemed to rise in his mind afresh when he brandished them in the 
:' unreconciled sinners. Some of the most stubborn sinners 
were made to fall down at the feet of Jesus in lowly submission. 
The Rev. Thomas Prince says that v in private he was seen to be of 
considerable parts and learning, — free, gentle, and condescending: 
be bad as thorough an acquaintance with experimental religion as 
any person I ever conversed with ; his preaching was as searching 
and rousing as any I ever heard. He aimed directly at the heart 
and conscience, to lay open numerous delusions and show the many 
secret, hypocritical shifts in religion, and to drive out of every de- 
ceitful refuge." 

His preaching produced no crying out or falling down : he did 
not so much preach the terrors of the law. as search man's delusive 
hopes, show their utter impotence and impending danger. He 
left Boston, March 2, 1741, and preached his farewell from Acts xi. 
•J.'-\. Be was exceeding strict in cautioning sgain8t running into 
torch. Yet, the opposers say, the congregations, while he 
ted, expressed their religious joy by B hearty laugh, and that 
Tennent laughed over those who were under conviction. 

11-- preached eight sermons at Plymouth, in March, with good re- 
sult-, on the -in and apostasy of mankind in Adam; on the blind- 
nese of the natural man in the things of God; on the utter inability 
of the fallen creature to relieve itself; and on justification through 
the imputed righteousness of Christ. 

In Maine, he preached -even sermons at Piseataqua, and three at 
Easl fork, going from thence to Hampton, N. II., and Greenland: 
■ I' it-ui'. uih, six or seven times, his voice drowned by the cries 
of the people in distress. In Massachuse'tts, be preached throe 
sermone at Bridgewater, one from Matt. xi. J*, at Taunton, which 
oed only a few, and was deep and lasting in only two in- 
11 »rd, the Revi Peter Thatcher, then under greai de- 
pression, came from Middleborougb to bear him, with sensible pre- 
judice, hut bad not heard three sentences of his prayer before he 
t' tuad him to be a man of ( tocL " 1 desire to bless I Kwa for that ser- 
mon. 1 never san more of the proaonce and power bf God in 
prayer and preaching, and never fell more of the power of God ac- 
companying the word on my own heart. Every word made its own 

1 felt the weight of it. This revived in me the ministry 
1 under in my youth." At hliddleborongh, be preached from 

Rom, vii. '.'. and .-aid he was mur BO -hut up but ODCO before in 

In-* life. No one, bowever, perceived it. There was, however, no 
effeol a1 the time; bni the people were from that time inclined to 
hear, and half a dozen were awakened. At Lyme, the sermon, from 
Ezek. xxxviii. '.», was very dull. Parsons was afraid several times 



392 GILBERT TENNENT. 

he would have nothing to say. One was convinced. Next day 
the text was Luke xiii. 24 : the audience very attentive and deeply 
affected. There was much visible concern ; but the effects were far 
more extensive than at the time appeared. At the East Parish of 
Lyme, the two sermons were excellent, and were attended by a 
great, if not general, awakening. At Saybrook, he gave a plain, 
searching sermon. At New Haven, he preached seventeen sermons. 
Several were in the college hall. The concern was general in the 
college and in the town. Among the pious students were Brain- 
erd, Bull, and David Youngs. They visited every room and con- 
versed with every student. Dr. Sproat, of Philadelphia, and Dr. 
Hopkins, of Newport, were brought to the Saviour. Hopkins was 
about twenty, — had lately heard Whitefield : he thought Tennent 
the greatest and best man and the best preacher he ever saw or 
heard. "His words were to me like apples of gold in pictures 
of silver. I thought, when I should leave college, I would go and 
live with him, wherever I could find him." A large number of 
three upper classes entered the ministry : John Grant, Thomas 
Lewis, Caleb Smith, Job Prudden, Aaron Richards, and Thomas 
Arthur became pastors in our church. Tennent regretted, in 
1744, having kept no journal of this tour, — the brokenness of 
his memory preventing his drawing up a full account of it.* 

It being assumed that he had gone into New England on the 
supposition of the unregeneracy and uselessness of the ministers, 
he said that the reason of his undertaking the tour was to promote 
his "progress in the Christian course, by that continual train of 
labours and hardships I foresaw I should be engaged in and ex- 
posed to." He said it was admitted on all hands there was a 
lamentable decline in that region : but, if there were not, " do not 
general rules admit of exceptions? In extraordinary times, when 
the Spirit of God is poured out, may not extraordinary methods be 
pursued without censure ?" 

He reached home just before the division of the synod, and preached 
in Philadelphia, May 31, 1741, five times, and baptized eight adults. 
The next day the Protest was introduced. He published at once 
"xVn Examination and Refutation of the Protest." He soon 
lamented the rupture and the sad aspect of the churches through- 
out the colonies, and yet suffered a new edition of the Nottingham 
Sermon to appear. The rise of the Moravians troubled him 
greatly ; and he preached against them at New York, and printed 
the sermons on Rev. iii. 3 ; and Colman prefixed a preface. To 
this, "Philalethes" replied, contrasting Gilbert with Tennent, and 

* Gillies. He preached frequently three times a day. Thirty of the students 
followed him on foot to Milford, and for this were fined by the rector. The unscru- 
pulous author of the Account of the State of Religion in New England since Mr. 
Whitefield's Visit says, " The college in Connecticut is nearly broke up." Tenuent'd 
labours at Harvard College were blessed. 



GILBERT TENNENT. 893 

placing in opposite columns his self-contradictions, accusing hira 
of raising a hue and cry after Pharisees, and countenancing such 

unlearned exhorters as D 1 R s, S 1 K-h-r, and 

L-y-r P e. He without delay published, " The Examiner Exa- 
mined; or, Gilbert Tennent harmonious." 

In 1744, he removed to Philadelphia and took charge of the 
Second congregation : his feet were blistered in traversing the 
streets and visiting such numbers of distressed souls. He called 
on Franklin to point out suitable persons from whom to solicit aid 
in erecting a house of worship. The philosopher told " the enthu- 
siast" to eall on everybody: he did so, and built the church. He 
ceased his former method of uttering his discourses, and read them. 
He lamented his "extravagancy in discarding a wig and wearing 
his hair loose and unpowdercd, with a large greatcoat fastened 
with a leathern belt for his outer garment." His ministry in Phila- 
delphia was in the main unattended with encouraging success. 
Andrews s;iid to Samuel Mather, April 17, 1745, u We are pretty 
qniel a1 present. Tennent lets me alone, and is generally mode- 
1 lit many of his followers grow weary of him, and wish for 
Whitefield'a return." Tennent now assumed that persons of 
moral life, possessed of a knowledge of the principles of the Chris- 
tian faith, should be admitted to the communion, and argued stre- 
nuously against his own former practice. 

In 174!', he preached and printed his " Irenicum, a Plea for the 
Peace of Jerusalem,'* to effect a union between the synods of New 
York and Philadelphia. He did full justice to the brethren he had 
eo bitterly assailed, and especially holds up Thomson — once the 
object of his unsparing invective — as a worthy representative of the 
excellent and estimable principles of his Old-Side associates. He 
freely justifies them from the charge of being opposers of the work 

of < rod Or heart-enemiefl to vital godliness, — doing it as cordially as 
if lie bad not I.e. •]! foremost and loudest -in creating these unfavour- 
able impressions of them. 

Davenport wrote to Bellamy, May 29, 17~>:'>. "Blessed be the 

great and 'i 1 ( J..-1 for a remarkable reviving and quickening 

given lately, about the beginning of Maroh, to Mr. William Tennent, 

and, about a fortnight after, to Mr. ( J. Tennent, before hifl wife's 
death and since." 

II - - od wife, Cornelia Depeyster, widow of Matthew Clark- 
son, made ■ hasty Bight, Maroh L9, 17.",:5, aged fifty-seven; and 
early in May he buried bis mother. 

il family being taken from ban, he oonsented.to go to Great 
Britain, in conjunction with Davies, to solicit aid for the college. 
The expectation of M accomplished a companion in the embassy 
•uragement te Davies to undertake the arduous task. 

Whitelirld write, in June, lT-el, « 1 am glad Mr. TeiimiiL is 



89-4 GILBERT TENNENT. 

coming over with Mr. Davies. If they come with their old fire, I 
trust they will be enabled to do wonders." He sailed Nov. 17, and 
reached London on Christmas day. 

Davies was " deeply sensible of the kindness of Heaven in ordering 
his father and friend to be his companion, not only for the right 
management of the undertaking, but for his social comfort." 

Tennent was cheerful and courageous on the voyage, and preached 
from John iii. 5 of a Sabbath evening. The sermon was judi- 
cious, plain, pungent, searching, and well adapted to do good. Hav- 
ing no opportunity to address the people at another time, he said, 
" Where there is no good to be done, the door is not opened." 

The next evening after their arrival was spent with Whitefield. 
Tennent's heart was all on fire ; and, after having gone to bed, he 
suggested to Davies that they should watch and pray : they rose 
and prayed together till three in the morning. 

" Tuesday, Jan. 22. — Observing at Mr. Chandler's that our col- 
lege would be a happy expedient to unite the German Calvin ists 
with the English Presbyterians, Mr. Smith, afterwards Provost of 
the University of Philadelphia, replied that a union would not be 
desirable.' Tennent immediately answered, ' Union in a good thing 
is always desirable.' Mr. Chandler said, 'I have seen a very ex- 
traordinary sermon against union,' and reached him his Notting- 
ham Sermon. Chandler had also read the examination of Tennent's 
answer to the Protest. All that we could say had no effect. He told 
us he would do nothing for us. The next day we waited on him, 
and Tennent made honest, humble concessions : — that the sermon 
was written in the heat of his spirit, when he apprehended a re- 
markable work of God was opposed by a set of ministers ; that 
some of the sentiments were not agreeable to his present opinions ; 
that he had painted sundry things in too strong colours. lie plead 
that it was now thirteen years, and he had used all his influence to 
promote union between the synods. He produced his ' Irenicum,' 
and the minutes of the synod, to show the state of the debate. He 
urged that, if the sermon was faulty, it was the fault of one man, 
and should not be charged on the whole body." Davies exerted 
all his powers of pathetic address ; and, in the end, Chandler gave 
them his name and co-operation. 

The sermon had been officiously dispersed through London from 
hand to hand, and Tennent was sadly discouraged ; and his success 
in obtaining funds amazed him and delighted him, as a gracious 
"regarding of the cry of the destitute." 

Having, at Edinburgh, succeeded in obtaining from the Assembly 
an order for a national collection, Tennent went to Glasgow and 
to Ireland. He attended the General Synod ; and they agreed to 
make a collection through all their bounds. The Presbytery of 
Antrim, "the New Light," Non-subscribers, fast sinking into Arian- 



GILBERT TEXXEXT. 395 

ism, did the same. He was advised to make private collections in 
Dublin. He returned to London early in October, having received, 
in Ireland, above five hundred pounds. He received three hundred 
and sixty pounds for the education of pious youth for the ministry. 
He sailed November 13, and reached home safely. 

Burr* wrote to Erskine, in May, 1T.J5, that the labours of Ten- 
nent had been blessed in Philadelphia ; in June, " he was more 
than ordinarily engaged," and there was much to encourage him. 

He joined with Alison, and the Presbyterians generally, in op- 
- the throwing oft' of the Proprietary government. 

In 1762, he began to need an assistant ; and, the congregation 
being regularly summoned, he presided, and, by a considerable ma- 
jority, a eall was made out for Duffield, of Carlisle; yet he, with the 
• s of the building, objected to the presbytery's considering the 
call, until the question between the trustees and the congregation 
had been submitted to arbitration. The presbytery decided that 
th<- eall was in order, and gave the commissioners leave to prose- 
cute it. Donegal Presbytery declined to place it in Duflield's 
hand-. The Rev. John Murray, from Ireland, was then called 
and ordained; but the synod would not acknowledge him, and he 
>n cast off. 

]\>- died January 23, 17G4. President Finley preached at his 
funeral. 

lb- made his will October 20, 1703, giving three hundred pounds 
and bis library to his son Gilbert, and directing that he should be 
put to learning, in the hope that God would prepare him for the 
ministry. He provides also for his daughters Elizabeth and Cor- 
nelia, lb- oonstitated his wife,f his brother William, and the wcav 
shipful .John Lyal, of New Brunswick, the guardians of his children* 
thi-y being very young. Hi- sou was lost at sea. One daughter 
married Dr. William Smith, of Philadelphia; the other died young. 

A- in- drew near hi- end. every Bymptom of dissolution filled 
him with comfort. His disposition, naturally calm, was sweetened 
by piety. 

Tennenl was taller than most men, and every way proportion* 
able; grave and renewable; affable, condescending, and oommuni- 

He was endeared by his openness and undisguised ho- 

eminenl for public spirit and great fortitude ; bis mind was 

enriched by much reading, and his heart was laden with a rich ex- 

f>erience of divine grace. A- a preacher, he was equalled by few; 
ii- reasoning ag, his Language forcible and often sublime; 

hi- manner, warm and earnest. Gdosl pungent were bis addressefl 
to the conscience. With admirable dexterity be exposed the falsa 

hop,- of the hypocrite, and searched the corrupt heart to the bot- 
tom, lie said of .-..mi. of his earlie-t sermons, that he 1 > 

* (iillica's Collections, Bonar'a e«liti..n. f M** *■"•''> Bp»ffard, wi'low. 



396 GILBERT TENNENT. 

them with tears of the Lord Jesus. A lady asked him, at the close 
of his life, concerning his mode of preaching while in New Eng- 
land, during the Revival. He replied, he hardly knew what he 
preached ; he had no time to study. The many years he had spent 
in diligent preparation, and his prevailing absorption in divine 
things, nobly qualified him to preach without effort. The drop- 
pings of his lips were as choice silver. 

He was a mark for many archers. They emptied their quivers 
on him ; he was sore wounded by their calumnies ; but he " shook 
off the venomous beasts," and lived, serving Christ, approved of 
God and acceptable to men. 

The publications of Tennent, like "the fourth part of the dust 
of Jacob," are not to be numbered. The earliest seems to have 
been a sermon preached in New York in March, 1734 ; in 1735, 
"A Solemn Warning to a Secure World from the God of terrible 
majesty ; or, the Presumptuous Sinner detected, his Pleas consi- 
dered, and his Doom displayed;" to which is added the life of his 
brother, the Rev. Mr. John Tennent. " The Necessity of Religious 
Violence to Durable Happiness," preached at Perth Amboy, June 
29, 1735; two sermons on the nature and necessity of sincere 
sanctification, contrition, and an acceptable appreciation of a suf- 
fering Saviour, preached at New Brunswick in July and August, 
1736. A volume of his sacramental discourses was printed in 
Boston, in 1739; his sermon on an "Unconverted Ministry," in 
1740; on the "Priestly Office of Christ," preached at New Bruns- 
wick, in 1741 ; on the death of Captain Grant, in 1756; on "Pub- 
lic Fasting," in 1749; on "Religious Zeal," in 1750; on the "Duty 
of being Quiet," and at the opening of the synod, in 1759. He 
was struck by lightning ; and the eagerness of some to proclaim it 
as a judgment led him to preach a sermon and print it, on the 
"Righteousness of the Scribes," in 1740; his Moravian sermons, 
in 1742; "The Examiner Examined," in 1743; on a thanksgiv- 
ing, and on another public occasion, and a third on Admiral Mat- 
fchews's victory, in 1744; on the success of the expedition against 
Louisburg, in 1745. 

He published, in 1746, a volume of twenty-three sermons on import- 
ant subjects,* embracing "Man's Chief End," "The Divine Authority 
of the Scriptures," "The Divine Attributes," and "The Trinity." 

A French privateer came into Delaware Bay in December, 1747. 
The citizens of Philadelphia met in the New Meeting-house, and 
formed an association for defence. Tennent preached to them 
from Exodus xv. 3 : — " The Lord is a man of war." A large num- 
ber of copiesf lay unsold when the British held the city, and were 
torn up for cartridges. The sermon being attacked, he published, 

* It is said to have had "a florid preface" affixed by six divines, 
f Day's Pennsylvania Historical Collections. 



ARCHIBALD McCOOK — EBEXEZER PEMBEItTON. 897 

■within a month, "Defensive War consistent with Christianity,'' 
— thf animadversions on which lie repelled, in 1748, by a third 
pamphlet: — "Defensive War Defended." 

In 1748, he printed a Fast-sermon, and one preached before a 
sacramental solemnity; in 1749, on the "Display of Divine Jus- 
tice in the Propitiatory Sacrifice of Christ;" in 1756, one before 
Captain Vanderspiegel'e company; in 1758, several on important 

Subjects; and, amid his closing "lays, he issued an "Address on the 
Late Invasion of American Liberty by the Stamp Act." Most of 
ire wry rare, being scattered in public libraries. They are 
all creditable to his abilities, were serviceable in their time, and, 
having served their generation, have passed into oblivion. 



ARCHIBALD McCOOK 



W kS received as a Btndent from Ireland, by Newcastle Presby- 
tery, in March, 1 7li*i, and was licensed, September 13, having sub- 

Bcnbed the Westminster Confession, tie was sent to Kent, in 
Delaware, embracing Dover, St. Jones, and Mother Hill, was called 

March 28, 1727, and ordained June 7. Houston proclaimed, and 
Thomson preached. He died before September. 

The desolate condition of the people in Kent attracted the atten- 
tion of the presbytery in 1714. Anderson was sent as a monthly 
supply; Gelston went as a candidate, in 1715; and the next year 
they had occasional Bnpplies in connection with Cedar Creek, in 
Cross preached for them monthly for several years, 
and Hook, Thomas Evans, Steward, and HntchesoD visited them. 
They had also Mr. Peter Finch, probably from England, for a sea- 
son. After BfoCook'e death, they had Bnpplies for several years. 



EBENEZEB PEMBERTON, 

Tm: son of one of the paston in Boston, was born in 1704, and 
graduated at Harvard in [721. When licensed, he was employed 
Bj ohaplain at < lastle William.* 

* Robbina'a Sccoii'l (IimivIi, ll..aton. 



398 EBENEZEE, PEMBERTON. 

On the dismission of Anderson, lie was sent by the Boston minis- 
ters to New York ; and, at the request of the congregation, made 
in April, they ordained him in his native town, August 9, 1727. 
Colman preached the sermon,* from Mark ix. 38. He dwelt on the 
young man's leaving his beloved mother, and the city in which his 
father had laboured ; on his being called to the head-city of a pro- 
vince ; and on the goodness of God in having formed and endowed 
him for his service, and inclined and spirited him for this distant 
and important work. He reminded him of the hand of God in 
uniting the affections of the flock on him, and presents, as a motive 
to faithfulness, the piety of his parents and grandparents. He 
bids him prepare the beaten oil and the sweet incense for the sanc- 
tuary, contend earnestly against the common errors of the day, 
maintain the doctrine, worship, and discipline established from the 
beginning, assert expressly the Trinity, the true and real Godhead 
of Jesus, and justification by faith, insist on the observance of the 
Lord's day, and urge the duty of family worship and family govern- 
ment. He concludes, " The God of New England, before whom 
our fathers walked, go with you and give the blessing of Abraham 
to thee and to thy seed." 

The New York congregation informed the synod that they were 
satisfied with all Dr. Nicoll's proceedings, and desired them to ad- 
mit Pemberton as a member. This they declined to do, but not 
out of any disrespect to him. They appointed a committee (all 
New Englanders) to settle the difference between the Presbytery 
of Long Island and the congregation. The difficulty was settled 
by causing Inglis, Blake, and Leddell to make over by deed all 
their right to the meeting-house to the ministers of Edinburgh, and 
to Dr. Nicoll, in trust for the congregation ; and by requiring Nicoll 
to release those three from all bonds and obligations they were 
under to him on account of that property ; and by exacting of him 
a bond of two thousand pounds to the ministers of Edinburgh, not 
to alienate his right therein, and, when reimbursed, to transfer all 
his right to them. They required also a bond from him of two 
thousand pounds to Pierson, Cross, and Dickinson, obliging him- 
self to concur with persons appointed by Edinburgh Presbytery, in 
selling such pews as the majority of the congregation chose. The 
congregation was allowed to choose five representatives or managers 
of the property. Pemberton, at his request, was received as a 
member, by the committee, without hearing what the presbytery 
had to offer. The synod refused to sanction his reception, and 
then proceeded unanimously to receive him, leaving it to him and 
the congregation to join what presbytery they pleased. 

In 1735, he was moderator of the commission at the trial of 

* Massachusetts Historical Society's Library. 



EBENEZER PEMBERTON. 399 

Hemphill ; and his sermon on that occasion, from Luke vii. 35, 
being cavilled at, he published it. 

"Whitefield came to New York in Xovember, 1739, and was 
denied the use of the court-house. The commissary, before being 
asked, refused him the church. Dominie Bocl declined to admit 
him to the Dutch Church, and Whitefield would not officiate in 
the meeting-house tendered by the Presbyterians. He attended 
Trinity Church in the morning, and preached in the afternoon in 
the fields, and in the evening in the Presbyterian meeting-housed 
Pemberton wrote to him, that he had left the town under a uni- 
versal concern; and that, to meet the wants of the people, he had 
appointed a lecture. Many were deeply affected; and some of 
the loose and profligate were ashamed, and set on reformation. 

Whitefield* wrote to him, November 28, 1739, "I have been 
much concerned, Bince I Baw you, lest 1 behaved not with that 
humility towards you which is due from a babe to a father in 
Christ; but you know how difficult it is to meet with success and 
not lie puffed up with it; and, therefore, if any such thing was dis- 
cernible in my conduct, oh, pity me, and .pray to the Lord to heal 
my pride. All that 1 can say is, that 1 desire to learn of Jesus 
to be meek and lowly in heart; but my corruptions are so strung, 
and my employ bo dangerous, that I am afraid." 

He irrote from Upper Marlborough, December 8, "Till now I 

have had neither time nor leisure to answer your kind letter. 

I be God, who has opened the heart of some of his people 

at New Y<>rk to receive the word! May he enable you to water): 

what his own right hand hath planted, and grant to your labours a 

divine increase! Oh that the Lord would be pleased to send forth 
experimental labourers into his harvest! fox 1 fear, among you^ as 

well ;i~ in other phiees, there are many who are well versed in the 

doctrines of grace, — having learned them at the university, — but 
notwithstanding are heart-hypocrites and enemies to the power ef 
godliness. 1 use this freedom, because 1 love simplicity. I con- 
fess 1 am but a child in grace as well as years. 

At his second vi.-it, October, 1740, " the Holy Ghost came 
down ;is .1 mighty rushing wind." 

Dr. Nie.,11; wrote to Nicholas Bpence, agent of the Church of 
Scotland, that •• the effects were visible in the town, particularly 

in our congregation and in my Own family. Little children fol- 
lowed Mr. Pemberton to his lodgings, weeping, and anxiously oon- 

■ Whit.-fi.-l.rH Lottorn. 

t Pei i lecture, on sooonnt of the increased desire for re- 

r I, in hi- published journal, sooth at tin-, si 
•' 8ome pretend to water what <;■••! has planted, by setting op leotaret : thej daub 
with antempered mortar, and say there li no need of giving an sooonnt ol yon* 
conver 

| Billies*! Collections. 



400 EBENEZER PEMBERTON. 

cerned about the salvation of their souls. The good Lord hath 
stirred up Gilbert and William Tennent, Burr, Mills, (of Ripton,) 
Leonard, (of Goshen,) and Davenport, and spirited them, in his 
mercy, to water it; but Satan is using (May 20, 1741) his utmost 
endeavours to drive some of them to extremes." Pemberton was 
sent for to Connecticut College, and preached twice a day while 
absent. He printed his sermon preached at Yale, April 19, 
1741, immediately after Tennent's visit. The subject was, "Know 
Christ," 

In May, he attended the synod, with his elder, Nathaniel 
Hazard;* and both signed the protest against the exclusion of 
the New Brunswick party. Hazard sat in synod as an elder in 
1728. His place of business was at the store of Thomas Noble, 
at the " Old Slip:" he advertises "likely negroes, and a prime lot 
of old Cheshire cheese." 

Pemberton preached, September 13, 1742, at Stratfield, Con- 
necticut, on the duty of committing our souls to God, from 
2 Tim. i. 12. This discourse was printed, as also the funeral ser- 
mon of Dr. Nicoll, his valued friend, the church's benefactor. f 

A petition was addressed by the congregation, March 12, 1746, 
to the associated ministers of Boston, seeking aid to enlarge the 
church. A copy of this document is preserved in Dr. Stiles's 
papers, signed by J. Royal, William Smith, Jeremiah Owen, Wil- 
liam Eagles, Joseph Millikin, P. Jackson, and P. V. B. Livingston. 
They state that, when the church was first built, there were not 
more than seventy or eighty belonging to it ; that differences grew 
up among the original undertakers of the building, and that for 
four years after Pemberton's settlement, the congregation con- 
tinued small : after a time, six of the eight windows were glazed, 
having before been boarded. In 1739, showers of heavenly influ- 
ence descended, with an increase of gifts in the minister. The 
congregation grew till the floor was filled and three galleries ; and 
now they needed to repair, enlarge, and add a steeple and bell. 
Being about to engage an assistant minister, they would be 
unable, if not aided, to bear the whole expense of refitting the 
house. 

The years from 1740 to '50 were years of rapid increase. 
Mr. Gumming was settled as assistant minister. Whitefield was 
in New York eight days in the summer of 1747. " People flock 
rather more than ever : the Lord vouchsafes us solemn meet- 
ings." 

* A native of Newtown, Long Island, and descendant from one of the early set- 
tlers there. His son, Nathaniel Hazard, was the friend and constant correspondent 
of Dr. Bellamy; his second son, Samuel, was a merchant in Philadelphia, and a 
stea Ifast and invaluable member of the Second Church. 

f Dr. Sprague's Collection at Princeton. 



EBENEZER PEMBERTON. 401 

He wrote to Pemberton from London, November 14, 1748, 
urging him to come thither and solicit funds for Nassau Hall. In 
1739, the Synod ef Philadelphia had endeavoured to prevail on 
him to "go home to Europe" to obtain funds for erecting a semi- 
nary. The Synod of New York, in 1751, proposed it to him: he 
had* no family at the time, and wad willing to go; and a com- 
mittee was Bent " immediately" to treat with his people. 

It was hist settled purpose to have gone; but his people and 
Mr. Gumming hindered it. His intention of going caused great 
unea-iness among his people, and created dissatisfaction towards 
him in the mind-; of some. 

By death and removal,! he was left without an elder or deacon. 

Mr. Hazard removed to Philadelphia. On the death of Dr. Nicoll, 

trustees were chosen to manage the affairs, by those who were 

bound for the payment of the church debts, and out of their own 

number. TroubL The trustees complained because Pem- 

berton insisted on having, by virtue of his office, a seat in their 

board and a voice in the temporal affairs. The matters in contro- 

passed from the presbytery to the synod in 175:2. They 

I that the church property belonged to those, without dis- 

:i of name or nation, who conformed to the general plan of 

ottish Church, as practised by the New York Synod: that 

istors had no right, by virtue of their office, to preside ovelc 

the hoard of trustees, and that Cumming was imprudent m insist- 

i doing so; that the trustees had acted faithfully and much 

to the advantage of the church. They commended Cumming 

for insisting that parents who present children for baptism shall 

pray ifi their families, and condemned the plan of carrying round 

a paper to gel subscriptions to introduce a new version of Psalms. 

. Finley, and Beatty, as a committee, after careful inquiry, 
nominated brae] Sorsefield and David Vannorne;§ and they were 

i elders. Though empowered to recommend Watts's Psalms 
if they thought proper, the committee declined to do so, recom- 
mending to both parties moderation and forbearance. 

In 17-">o, Pemberton was blamed by some of the people for 
neglecting family visiting, the Bession for introducing Watts of 

their own a< -d, and both ministers for neglecting to recommend 

iteohism in baptism, and for praying when asiced at funerals. 

This was a matter of intolerable offence to the Scot-nun: they 
oould not endure "orations" at funerals. The oommitti 

i these charges, and lamented the injurious and contemptuous 

Pemberton died in June, 1 7 ■". I . having, in hex last 
■ of ntlli.-ti.iii and pain." 
t Jonathan I 

don. 

xty-tlireo. 



402 EBENEZER PEMBERTON. 

treatment on both sides. No one opposed Cumming's request to 
be dismissed ; but a number of gentlemen strongly remonstrated 
against giving up Pemberton. The committee advised him to 
stay for a while, and make a further trial ; and, if at the end of a 
month he had no success in healing the divisions, he was to be 
released. 

Visiting Boston, he received a unanimous call to the New Brick 
Church, and immediately wrote* to the synod, desiring that he 
might be set at liberty. He was dismissed ; and the Presbytery 
of New York addressedf a letter of high commendation in his 
favour to the ministers of Boston. He was installed, March 6, 
1754. He was greatly admired, and his preaching was largely 
attended. But, towards the approach of the Revolution, his 
people, being zealous Whigs, were pained by the sight of Governor 
Hutchinson in the front ■ pew, and standing high in the esteem of 
their minister. They withdrew; but the favour of Hutchinson 
preserved the church edifice from the desecration and ruin which 
befell the other places of worship. His salary was poorly paid, 
and he generously forgave the arrears. The Baptists, being with- 
out a house, were welcomed to an equal use of the church, — Dr. 
Stillman preaching alternately with the pastor. A vain attempt 
had been made to secure the Rev. William Tennent, Jr., after- 
wards of Charleston, as a colleague. The want was, in a mea- 
sure, supplied by the Rev. John Lathrop, of the New North 
Church, whose congregation had been despoiled of their sanctuary 
by the British; and, on the death of Pemberton, the two societies 
united. The pastoral relation of Pemberton was virtually dis- 
solved in February, 1774 : from that date he received no salary. 
During the war he retired to Andover, and died, September 9, 
1779. 

Dr. Chauncey told President Stiles that Pemberton would go 
to the death for Edwards's distinguishing tenet: — refusing church 
privileges to the unregenerate. 

He published his sermons at the ordination of Wilmot and 
Brainerd. In 1750, he printed a memoir| of his mother, as a 
preface to her " Meditations," and dedicated it to her third hus- 
band, — Henry Lloyd, Lord of the Manor of Queen's Village. Her 
second husband was John Campbell, of Boston, the publisher of 
the first newspaper in that town. 

He corresponded with Doddridge. One of his letters, dated 
December 16, 1743, § is preserved; it was in answer to an inquiry 



* MS. Records of the Trustees. 
f Dr. Robbins's History of Second Church, Boston, 
j Massachusetts Historical Society's Library. 
| Doddridge Correspondence, by Humphreys. 



DANIEL ELMER. 403 

concerning the injustice said to have been done to the Moravians 
by the Dissenters in America. He denies that these was any 
ground for such a story. " With us, they are evidently en- 
deavouring to draw off the affections of the people from the 
soundest and most zealous ministers in these parts." His valued 
friend. Mr. Noble, had already forsaken him. 

Daviee said, " Mr. Price is by far the best orator I have 
hoard in London. lie is an affable, affectionate gentleman, and 
is the likest man to Mr. 1'einberton, both in conversation and in 
the pulpit, that I have seen." The Hon. William Smith, father 
of the historian, said, "His deficiency in delivery was natural, 
but surprisingly mended with great pains taken." 



DANIEL ELMER 



Was born in Fairfield, Connecticut, in 1G90, and graduated at 
Yale in 171:5. lie married BOOB after, ami, "for some time, car- 
ried '-:, the work of the ministry" in Brook fi. Id. Massachusetts. 
General Court allowed the town twenty pounds for three 
years, to aid in sustaining the gospel. Elmer received only half 
of this encouragement, having left before 1715. Where he spent 

the ii'\t twelve yean is aot known. In 1728, he Bottled at Fair- 
field, in Cohanzy. At the declaring for the Confession, in 17^!>, 
- the only minister who professed himself unprepared to act. 
Tune was granted him to consider; and the next year he in- 
formed the Bynod that be had declared before the presbytery his 
cordial adoption <>f the Confession and the Catechism. 

Whitefield risked West Jersey in the spring of 1740. Gilbert 
Tennent was there in the Bummer; and, while Wlritefield was 
preaching (November 19) on Wednesday, the Holy Ghost came 
down ■• lik<- a mighty rushing wind" at Cohanzy. Some thou- 
sands were present. The whole congregation was moved, ami two 
cried "in. 

At the separation in 1711. Elmer and bis elder, Jonathan 
Fithian, though present at the opening of the sessions, Beeme to 
have gone home before the Protest was Introduced. He ad- 
hered to the Old Side. The congregation divided: even his own 
urionaHy went to Greenwich t-. hear Andrew Hunter. 

Finley spent much time in the vicinity; and New Brunswick 

* Tho Kot. Dr. Joseph J. Foot's B 



404 HUGH STEVENSON. 

Presbytery was constantly importuned for supplies, and their most 
promising candidates were sent to Cohanzy. 

At Elmer's request, Cowell, McHenry, and Kinkaid were sent 
by the synod, in September, 1754, to endeavour to remove the 
difficulties he complained of in his congregation ; but all proceed*- 
ings were stayed by his death. He lies buried in the Old New 
England town-graveyard, with this inscription : — 

" In memory of the Rev. Daniel Elmer, late pastor of Christ's 
Church in this place, who departed this life, January 14, 1755, 
aged sixty-five years." 

Dr. Alison wrote to President Stiles, July 20, 1755, informing 
him that the two parts of Elmer's congregation had united on his 
death, and introducing Mr. Thomas Ogden, whom they had sent as 
their messenger to Connecticut to procure a minister. 

Elmer married Margaret, daughter of Ebenezer Parsons, of 
"West Springfield, Massachusetts, and sister of the Rev. Jonathan 
Parsons, of Newburyport ; she was the mother of three sons and 
four daughters. His second wife was a Webster, the mother of 
two sons and three daughters. 

His son Daniel was born in 1714, and was the father of Dr. 
Jonathan and General Ebenezer Elmer. 



HUGH STEVENSON, 

A student of theology from Ireland, was received under the 
Care of Newcastle Presbytery, May 11, 1726, and was licensed, 
September 13. He was sent from time to time to supply Lower 
Octorara (now Nottingham) and Newcastle and Lewestown. He 
was called to Snow Hill, Maryland, March 26, 1728, Edmund 
Cropper being the commissioner. He accepted the call in June ; 
Anderson, Thomson, and Houston were appointed to examine his 
discourse, and Thomson, Stewart, and McCook to proceed with 
his trials. He was ordained before June, 1729. 

In 1733, while preaching in Virginia, he received harsh and 
injurious treatment from some gentlemen. A copy of his repre- 
sentation was sent by the synod to the Church of Scotland, and 
aid was asked to maintain some itinerant ministers in Virginia and 
elsewhere ; and especially was that venerable body urged to use 
its influence with the Government to lay " a restraint upon some 
gentlemen in said neighbouring province as may discourage them 
from hampering our missionaries by illegal prosecutions." 



JOHN WILSON — ELEXEZER GOULD. 405 

In 1730 or '40, he opened a grammar-school in Philadelphia, 
being a teacher of high reputation.* Just before the introduction 
of the Protest in 1741, lie was suspended by the synod, having 
omitted his ministry and fallen into some irregularities. He died 
'44/ 



JOHN WILSON, 

A MINISTER from Ireland, " coming providentially into these 
parts," presented his credentials to the synod in 1729, and was 
unanimously received. He preached ;it Lower Octorara, and made 
a strong party in his favour. The Presbytery of Newcastle received, 
January 27, 1730, a letter from Armagh Presbytery concerning 
him; and they resolved not to employ him. He was then preach- 
ing at Newcastle with much acceptance, and a misunderstanding 
sprung up between the congregation and the presbytery in regard 
to him. Robert Gordon,! Judge of Newcastle County Court, and 
Probate of Wills, wrote to the Bynod to interpose in the breach; 
This brought under review the presbytery's action, and the Bynod 
judged that they had not acted with any Beverity towards him, but 
rather the contrary, lie removed soon after to lloston, and died 
there, January 6, L733, aged sixty-six. 

It IB BUppOSed that the ReV. John Wilson was his son, who was 

bum in Ulster and ordained pastor of the Presbyterian church in 
p, New Hampshire, in 1734, and who died there, February 

1. 177 1 , aged Beventy-six. 



i:i;i:.\i:/ki: gould, 

A VATXYi of New England, graduated at Yale m L723, and 
became the minister of Greenwich, in Conanzy, about the time 
Elmer settled in Fairfield, in 1727. 

In 1786, Philadelphia Presbytery »m- informed ( ,f difficult] 
ragregation ; and, he being absenl at the time set for oonsider- 
case, they heard the complainants on two points: — 
1. Whether it be lawful in any case to have evidence which is 
t'> be used in an ecclesiastical case, bwotd before a magistrate! 



i r h 

;. September, L786, ":i maa nmofe 



406 ELEAZER WALES. 

2. "Whether a congregation or a private member may, after 
proper means used, complain of their minister to the presbytery ? 

An affirmative answer was given, and the complainants went 
home ; and, the day after, Gould came. The others were sent for 
to return, but in vain. It was all happily reconciled soon after, 
having grown out of Gould's saying that if he had money he 
would go to England. No notice was taken of it at the time, and 
when he afterwards expressed his scruples freely about "the 
Presbyterian way" in some things, it was surmised that only 
poverty kept him from going to England and taking orders. 

Further difficulties occurred in the summer of 1739, and he 
removed without being dismissed, and was installed in 1740 at 
Cutchogue, Suffolk county, Long Island. 

He united in April, 1747, with Ebenezer White, of Bridge- 
hampton, Nathaniel Mather, of Acquebague, Ebenezer Prime, of 
Huntingdon, Sylvanus White, of Southampton, and Samuel Buell, 
of East Hampton, in forming Suffolk Presbytery. A member* of 
Gould's church was present, and approved of the plan, though not 
delegated by the brethren. The majority being rigid Congrega- 
tionalists, a crisis ensued: separations, divisions, and alienations 
left him with no prospect of support or of usefulness. He and 
they mutually agreed to part. 

No intimation is given that the Great Revival was felt at 
Cutchogue ; it doubtless was, and the separation was owing not to 
the matter of church government, but to the peculiar views of 
those who were carried away by Davenport in the outset of his 
career, and who abjured him when he renounced his errors. They 
formed separate churches throughout the east end of the island, 
which bear to this day the name of Strict Congregational churches ; 
the strictness being in the maintenance of the purity and exact- 
ness of discipline of the primitive era. 

He removed to Middlefield, the southwest part of Middletown, 
then newly organized into a society, and was installed, October 10, 
1747. He removed in 1756, and died in Granville, Massachusetts, 
in 1778. 



ELEAZER WALES 



Is not mentioned in the published genealogy of the Wales 
family, though undoubtedly sprung from it. 

Nathaniel Wales, who settled at Dorchester, Massachusetts, in 
1636, was the father of Timothy, whose son Eleazer was born 

* Prime's History of Long Island. 



RICHARD TREAT. 40T 

"25th, Tenth month, 1657." He was probably either the father 
or grandfather of Eleazer Wale?, who graduated at Yale in 1727, 
and Bettled at AHentown, New Jersey, in 1730. 

Crosswicks, or CrcssweelcBung, was an early Quaker settlement. 
An Episcopal church was proposed to be erected there in 1702. 
d probably refers fed it when, in his Latin letter to Mather, 
in 1721. he speaks of two congregations suddenly grown up twenty 
miles from Freehold, and where formerly were only seven Presby- 
terian families. He began to preach there in May, 1720, and 
prepared the way for Walton- The Presbyterians had a meeting- 
Mouse before 1722. In 17-')<», the synod considered a supplication 
from Grosswicks, and directed Andrews to reply. Wales soon 
after settled then'; but be asked leave, September 19, 1734, of 
Philadelphia Presbytery, to resign, on account of inadequate sup- 
port: his statement being confirmed by the representative of the 

■egation, Mr. Ingliss, he was dismissed. He was directed to 
join with Andrews in writing t<> the Rector of Yale for a minister 
to visit the destitutions of Weel Jersey. He was called to Mill- 

. September 19, 1735, and joined East Jersey Presbytery, 
within the bounds of which it lay. 

He was one of the first members of New Brunswick Presby- 
tery, and the only New ESnglander, besides Treat, who was ex- 
cluded by the Protest. He is mentioned incidentally, once or 

. in Whitefield's Journal, as having come to Am well and New 

Brunswick to meet him. His name is also seen in Brainerd's 

diary, among the contributors to the support of his mission. 

ai is entered as giving <£5 lis. 

Mo notice appears of Kingston or Millstone among the con- 

itiona highly favoured during the Revival. 
Wales died in' 1740. 



RICHARD TREAT, 

Bobs at Milford, Connecticut, September 2~>, 1708, was a de- 
Bcendanl ox Dear relative of Governor Robert Treat, an early set- 
tler of that town. He graduated at Yale in 172."), and w.is or- 
i by Philadelphia Pre.-hytrry, :iud installed pastor of Abing- 

d'.n, Pennsylvania, December BO, L78L David Evans preached 
on the ocoa ion, ihowing that it was a wonder to see :i god!;.. 
Biderate man in the ministry. 

Treat, in I7;;: 1 , while bearing Whitefield preach, was convinced 
of his forma] Btate, DotwHhstanding he held and preached t! 

trine- 



408 RICHARD TREAT. 

Whitefield* was at Abingdon, April 17, 1740, and says, " God 
has lately shown mercy to him. He was deeply convinced, when I 
was here last, that he had not experienced the saving power of the 
gospel. Soon after I went away, he attempted to preach, but 
could not, and told his people how miserably he had deceived 
himself and them. He desired them to pray for him, and has 
ever since continued to seek Jesus Christ, sorrowing. He is now 
under deep convictions and a very humbling sense of sin. He 
preaches as usual, though he has not a full assurance of faith, 
because, he said, it was best to be found in the way of duty. I 
believe the Lord is preparing him for great services. I observed 
a great presence of God in our assembly, and the word came with 
a soul-convincing and comforting power to many." 

He had before acted with the majority of the synod; but now, 
becoming, in their judgment, " a ringleader in destroying learning 
and good order," he was excluded in 1741. With his neighbour 
Tennent, of Neshaminy, he joined New Brunswick Presbytery. 
A division in the congregation ensued; and, when Philadelphia 
Presbytery met (March 19, 1742) at Abingdon, Treat demurred to 
their jurisdiction, and they referred the matter to synod. In 
May, Benjamin Jones, Malachi Jones, Archibald McClean, Ben- 
jamin Armitage, and others, asked the presbytery for advice ; and 
they were directed to settle the matter as should be most for the 
glory of God. The next spring, the papers were laid before the 
synod ; and, on their recommendation, the presbytery sent supplies 
to Abingdon as often as they could. 

Whitefield often preached in the graveyard to a great con- 
course from all the region round. Treat's labours were also 
largely blessed. 

When the Presbyterians at Milford, Connecticut, asked New 
Brunswick Presbytery to ordain Jacob Johnson for their minister, 
they declined, but sent Treat to heal the difference. He failed ; 
for they of Milford, instead of succumbing to Congregational 
despotism, made out a call for him, August 10, 1743. The pres- 
bytery advised him not to accept it, and sent them Sackett, of 
Bedford, Lamb, of Baskingridge, and Youngs, of Southold. New 
Haven Associationf retaliated by closing their pulpits against all 
the members of New Brunswick Presbytery. 

Treat published his sermon^ preached, in 1747, at the ordina- 
tion of Lawrence, in the Forks of Delaware, and on the death of 
President Finley. 

In 1751, Abingdon Presbytery was formed, for the convenience of 
the ministers of Brunswick Presbytery residing in Pennsylvania and 
West Jersey. It was merged in Philadelphia Presbytery on the union. 

* Whitefield's Journal. f Tracy's Great Awakening. 

% Connecticut Historical Society. 



ROBERT CATHCART. 409 

Ho died, November 20, 1778, surviving many years all who had 
been in our ministry before him, and being reverenced as a 
peace-maker and a man full of good works. He laboured to the 
close of his days, having preached on "the "West Branch of the 
Forks" (Allen township) shortly before his decease. 

The Rev. Joseph Treat, colleague with Dr. Rodgers in the city 
of New York, was his sun. Another of his sons was settled there 
as a physician. 



ROBERT CATHCART, 

A i.ickntiatk from Ireland, was received by Newcastle Tresby- 

tery, April 15, 1780, and was Bent to Bupply Middletown, Dela- 

county, Pennsylvania, and Brandywine, Kent, and Lewes, in 

Delaware. In December, he was called to Kent, but declined, 

and Bottled at Brandywine, and, probably, at Middletown. 

Jn lTJ'i, an address from some people in Birmingham, on 
Brandywine, was read in synod, and Mctiill was appointed to 
preach to them. The next year they were directed to apply to 

Newcastle Presbytery, and arc described as people on Brandywine, 

White (.'lay, aiel the north side of Red Clay. Laing was the Bnp- 
ply of White Clay and Brandywine in the spring and summer of 
.Hid tin' 22d of August is noted by the presbytery for a re- 
markable freshet of White Clay Creek, as though it had risen in 
its might to wash away all remembrance of Larag's Sabbath-day 
bathing. In the fall, McGill was there; and then Oreag 
served them for several yens, in L727, they called the Rev. 
k Vance, of Burt, [reland; and the presbytery sent the call 

to him in Ireland. In 17-'.', they had the services of .John Ten- 

aent. A meeting-house being contemplated by the people of 
Brandywine and Middletown, the fears of White Clay Congrega- 
tion were aroused, and the intervention of the presbytery was in- 
foked. Leave ^^ given them to build. 

In 1740, Cathcaii began to preach in Wilmington. 1 The 
undertakers of the meeting-house, Captain Chambers ami Captain 
Hutchinson, obtained a gift from the Bynod's fund of fifty pounds, 

and a loan of thirty pounds. 

I . ted th- Protest in 17 1 1 ; and, as Wl I 

* Thomea Chalklay, a Mead, in Beptember, 1786, being there, uys, "11 tea 
'licit, I beliere, will be a floarunli 

if tho iuhubiuiit.i take euro to luc in the I 



410 WILLIAM ORR. 

often preached at "Wilmington and the vicinity, his congregation 
divided, and the New-Side Church of Lower Brandywine was 
formed, — his own, in process of time, having taken the name of 
Red Clay. 

He died in 1754. 



WILLIAM ORR 



Was received by Newcastle Presbytery, as a student from Ire- 
land, November 15, 1730, and was licensed: before 1732, they 
ordained him pastor of Lower Octorara or Nottingham. 

The Mouth of Octorara began to receive supplies in 1725, 
and asked for Stevenson in 1727: it soon after obtained one-third 
of Hutcheson's time. It is frequently styled Lower Octorara, 
and is named Nottingham for the first time in April, 1730. Un- 
pleasant disputes seem to have grown out of the location of the 
meeting-house, and still more from the desire of some to have 
John Wilson settled over them. There were some who "scru- 
pled our way of adopting the Confession," being shocked at the 
possibility of having a minister admitted into our connection who 
had a difficulty concerning an iota of it. 

Donegal Presbytery forbade its members, in 1732, to baptize or 
preach among the people living between Nottingham, Chestnut 
Level, Donegal, and Swatara. 

Nottingham informed the presbytery, in 1733, that they had 
agreed on the following persons for elders, and they were ap- 
proved : — Hugh Kirkpatrick, John Kirkpatrick, James Buchanan, 
John Luckie, John Moor, Hugh Fulton, David Patterson, John 
Smith, and John Mackadoo. 

John Kirkpatrick accused his minister (April 2, 1733) of preach- 
ing false doctrine concerning election, — alleging that he had used 
against it the common Arminian flings. His explanations were 
accepted ; and a new complaint was made against him for having 
married the Rev. Mr. Campbell with a license, which seemed to 
acknowledge the jurisdiction of the Bishop of London. More 
serious complaints were made ; and Gillespie, Thomas Evans, and 
Houston were invited to sit as correspondents in considering them. 
To this Orr objected ; but they proceeded, and acquitted him, 
though they blamed his conduct during process as insulting, in- 
docent, and reproachful. 

The synod sent a committee to adjudicate on the spot an appeal 
from this sentence of acquittal. Gillespie, Hutcheson, Treat, 



WILLIAM BERTRAM. 411 

Thomas Evans, and Andrews met in November, 1734. They ob- 
tained from the presbytery an acknowledgment that they had 
erred in refusing to hear John Kirkpatrick's supplication and to 
give him copies of certain papers. Though these refusals had 
been owing to want of time, and disturbance among the people, 
they entered their acknowledgment on the records, and all of them 
feigned it. Orr and his session made an acknowledgment of harsh- 
ness to some and undue lenity to other offenders. The committee 
restored Kirkpatrick and his adherents to church privileges, on 
their acknowledgment of rashness and imprudence in representing 
their minister's doctrine as false, and in abruptly and irregularly 
breaking off from the session. 

The presbytery in the following year declared that they could 
not give Orr a certificate of good standing: he ceased to preach, 
and -aid he would not be at the trouble of carrying their certificate. 
He then sued Paton and Steel, the representatives of the congre- 
gation, on the bond for his salary, and harassed them sorely. 
The presbytery blamed his action as irregular, unaccountable, pro- 
jfane, and disagreeable to tin- Christian character. Being dismissed 
from his charge, he deserted the bounds of the presbytery as a 
fugitive from discipline. He was ordained* by Gibson, Bishop of 
London, as a deacon, September 19, 1736, and was admitted to 
priests' orders ton days after. He arrived in South Carolina, from 
England, in 1737, and took charge of St. Philip's and St. Paul's. 
In March, 1743, he reported that the Indian tribe of Oushoes, once 
numbering a thousand, were reduced to sixty-three; and that the 
number of his communicants in his church had increased from 
eight to thirty-four. In 174b', In- took charge of St. Helena parish, 
in Beaufort, and removed, in 175'J, to St. John's, Colleton, lie died 
. in L755. 

II'- was one of the eoclesiastica] court which, with Commissary 
Garden at its head, cited Whitefield in 1740, condemned him for 
Canonical irregularities, suspended and denounced him. 



WILLIAM BERTRAM 



r ■ : ! i' to the synod, in 1~:'.l'. mosi ample testimonials from 
the Presbytery of Bangor, in [reIand,o£ bis ordination, ministerial 
qualifications, and regular Christian conversation; and, having de- 
clared his full and free assent to the Confession and Catechism, 

* Dal< ; pal Churoh, South Carolina. 



412 WILLIAM BERTRAM. 

was unanimously received, and joined to Donegal Presbytery. At 
the same time, George Renick (Renwick) presented him an invita- 
tion to settle at Paxton and Derry, and at the first meeting of 
Donegal Presbytery he declared his acceptance of it. No regular 
call was made ; but he was satisfied with the paper of subscriptions 
put into his hands. He was installed, November 15, 1732, at the 
meeting-house on Swatara. The congregation then appointed re- 
presentatives : — "on this side, Thomas Foster, George Renick, Wil- 
liam Cunningham, and Thomas Mayes ; on the other side, Rowland 
Chambers, Hugh Black, Robert Campbell, John Williams, William 
Williams, James Quigley, William McCord, and John Sloan." 
They executed to Bertram the right and title to the Indian town 
they had purchased. He informed the presbytery that his wants. 
had been tenderly regarded. 

Rowland Chambers* appeared before Newcastle Presbytery in 
behalf of the settlements towards Susquehanna, in September, 1722. 
John Harris, from Yorkshire, settled at the mouth of Paxton Creek 
in 1726; and soon after James, Robert, Joseph, and Benjamin 
Chambers, from county Antrim, took up land at the mouth of 
Fishing Creek. In 1729, Swatara had been allowed one-fifth of 
Anderson's time, and the next year Fishing Creek asked for sup- 
plies. Swatara called the Rev. John McKinstry, a minister from 
Scotland; but he returned the call, and settled at Ellington, Con- 
necticut. 

On the settlement of Bertram, the congregation on Swatara took 
the name of Derry, and the upper congregation on Fishing Creek 
was styled Paxton. They gave the presbytery the list of the 
elders they had selected, and their choice was approved. 

Bertram complained, in 1735, of "the intolerable burden" he 
was under with the two congregations, and desired leave to confine 
himself to one. Derry engaged to pay sixty pounds in hemp, corn, 
linen yarn, and cloth, and he was released from the care of Pax- 
ton, September 13, 1736. 

He died May 3, 1746, aged seventy-two; and "his tombf may 
be seen by leaving the main road, near Hummellstown, and tra- 
versing the cool, clear, spring creek to Dixon's Ford : there stands 
the venerable Derry meeting-house on the banks of the Swatara." 

Bertram's son was surveyor-general of Pennsylvania. 

* "1734, 3d of 10th month. Both of the proprietaries present. At the request 
of Rowland Chambers and Thomas Armstrong, one hundred acres each were granted 
to the congregations of Paxton and Derry, at a half-penny sterling yearly, for meet- 
ing-houses." — Huston's Land Titles. 

f Mark Bancroft's Stories : in Atkinson's Casket. 



JOHN CROSS. 413 



JOHN CROSS, 



~~ i led, by Dr. Brownlee, " a Scottish worthy," was received as a 
member of synod in 1 7-iil. and settled at a place "called The Moun- 
ack Of Newark." The remarkable revival in his congrega- 
tion there, in 1734 and '35, is noticed in Edwards's ^Thoughts on 
Revivals." East Jersey Presbytery blamed him, in 1735, for not 
attending their meetings, and for moving from one congregation to 
another without their consent. He was the minister of Basking- 
ridge and Staten Island, and was one of the first members of New 
Brunswick Presbytery. He distinguished himself greatly by his 
seal and his success during the Great Revival. Whitefield was 
jhed by meeting him and Gilbert Tennent on Staten Island, 
in 174<>, and by hearing from him of the wonderful things often 
Been under his mini-try. 

II.- hail been absent from home, and had left Davenport to 
preach t<» his people. "Whitefield went with him to Baskingridge, 
and found, on his arrival, Davenport with three thousand people 

assembled. Whitefield preached, standing in a wagon. Some cried 
d others wept. When this vehemence of feeling abated, 

I saw a little boy weeping as if his heart would break, and 

lifted him into the wagon. Whitefield was touched with the sight, 
and turned from his subject to dwell on the sovereignty of God, in 
melting a child and having so many in security. A universal con- 
oern immediately appeared: fresh persons dropped down, and the 
cry increased. At night Tennent preached in a barn on u Spi- 
lt' -■ rtion;" Whitefield prayed and exhorted, and there was 
it commotion, 
next day they went to New Brunswick, followed by athrong 
from distanl places. A deaf and dumb man from New 
Germantown lost no opportunity of being presenl on any of these 

ii-; :itid to the end of life he amazed and delighted those 

witnessed his delineations by looks and motions, of those 

. 

- told Whitefield, in 1789, of the wonderful things often 

, lii> assembly : at first, only eight or nine had been affected ; 

but :i: . upwards of three hundred of* his congregation, 

which is not large, were effectually bronghl home i" Christ. He 

had remarkable success on Staten [eland, in 1711. 

When Whitefield preaohedal Nottingham, the heavenly influence" 
ided as the dew. Tennem followed; and, the meeting-house 
1 againsl Cross, he preached in the woods, amid an 
y. swooning, and overwhelming concern. 



414 BENJAMIN CAMPBELL. 

Whitefield wrote to Noble, of New York, September 22, 1742, 
who had expressed his high admiration of Cross, " I do not won- 
der; he is a dear soul, and one that the Lord delights to honour." 
He said of him also, "He is indeed one that I believe would re- 
joice to suffer for the Lord Jesus. Oh that I might be like- 
minded!" Tennent, on seeing these things in print, wrote to 
Whitefield, who replied, "I shall write to some friends about Mr. 
C.'s principles. I thank you for your kind caution. My mistakes 
often humble me." 

Thomson, of Chestnut Level, charges him with having required 
parents, on presenting their children for baptism, to own the 
Solemn League and Covenant of Scotland's Reformation. 

More serious charges than this were laid against him, in April, 
1739, and, new complaints being made, he was called up by his 
presbytery and suspended, June 23,1742. Dickinson says, "His 
dreadful scandals came to light in the midst of the Revival, and his 
previous high character for zeal and piety caused the enemies of 
God to blaspheme and triumph." Dickinson regarded his princi- 
ples as wholly Antinomian. A large body of people adhered to 
him and welcomed his ministrations. In October, 1746, he asked 
to be restored ; but the presbytery refused, on the ground that they 
had not sufficient evidence of his repentance. 

In the time* of the great land-riots, he was accused, by the par- 
ties who brought the ejectment suits, of being the counsellor of the 
people who resisted the process, and of having, in connection with 
the Rev. Daniel Taylor, — the Independent minister of Newark 
Mountains, — encouraged them to liberate the prisoners, and to the 
like deeds of violence. The actual settlers, it was said, pretended 
a just title, having purchased of those who had obtained a tract fif- 
teen miles square, of the Indians, for a five-shilling bill and a bot- 
tle of rum. A New York paper, of December, 1747, suggests the 
publication of "Sermons to Violent Men," founded on Proverbs 
xxix. 7. 



BENJAMIN CAMPBELL 



A student of divinity from Ireland, was received by Newcastle 
Presbytery, November 5, 1729, and was licensed and ordained to a 
charge in their bounds before September, 1733. He married be- 

* New York Papers. 



JOHN XUTMAN. 415 

fore January, 1734 ; and his death "was reported to the synod in 
September, 1735. 

Mr. Legate, who came over with him, a fellow-student, is not 
mentioned after his being taken on trials by Newcastle Presby- 
tery. 



JOHN NUTMAN 



Was a native of Newark, New Jersey. His father (James* Nut- 
man) was from Scotland, and married a daughter of the Rev. John 
Prudden. Dr. Alden, in his "Epitaphs," says, "The old rule at 
Yale was to rank the scholars on the roll according to the relative 
position of their family." As Nutnian Btands at the head of the 
graduates of 17i!7, we may (understand that he was of a family of 
a iiished consideration. 

II was licensed by Philadelphia Presbytery, and ordained 
pastor of Hanover, New Jersey, in 1730. Dr. Alden calls the 
congregation Whippany: it included at first West Hanover and 
South Hanover. He appeared in synod, in 1733, to lay before 
them the difficulties of his situation. A lot had been cast, with 
Bacred solemnity, to determine the site of the meeting-house: the 
people of West Hanover or Morristown, being dissatisfied with the 
lot, formed a separate congregation, and left Nutman with only a 
portion of his people and a proportionate diminution of support. 
The synod blamed the resorting to the lot as unnecessary, and 
directed the Presbytery of East Jersey to travail with the people 
to reunite, at least till they be better able to subsist apart; tailing 
in this, to grant him a dismission on his application. They dia 
not succeed ; and West Hanover applied fco the synod, in 1734, for 

the ordination of Mr. ('loverly. The matter was left to Phila- 
delphia Presbytery; and they met al Hanover, Augusl 8,1787, — 
many delays bavins occurred,— and declined to ordain, though not 
judging the candidate unfit. The next year, the synod was in- 
voked by Mr. Budd, a commissioner, to consider whether \V.--t 
Hanover was bound by the lot, which had been cast in the lap live 
before, t*> abide by a decision of a committee of Bast Jersey 
ytery. The matter was ended by appointing a committee of 
ministers to proceed to Hanover and bear both parties. 



* L>r. Stoorus'a History of Pint Choroh, ' 



416 SAMUEL HEMPHILL. 

On the 20th of July, 1738, Gilbert Tennent opened the com- 
mittee with a sermon on Ezek. xi. 19 : — " I will give them one 
heart." Andrews, Treat, and Cowell were there, with John Cross, 
Gilbert Tennent, and his brother William. It appeared that, 
since the lot was cast, West Hanover was one-half abler than 
before; and that Hanover was also much stronger, and, though 
" it was hard with them at present to support Mr. Nutman, yet 
they were in growing circumstances, and able to support of them- 
selves. They had no mind to unite with the whole of the western 
part, nor on any of the former terms." The committee decided, 
that it was now impracticable to comply with the engagements 
under the lot, and that every good purpose would be much better 
answered by there being two separate societies. All parties ex- 
pressed their satisfaction with this decision. 

Nutman resigned the charge in 1745, and engaged in teaching 
in Newark. He died, September 1, 1751, aged forty-eight. His 
daughter was the first wife of Jonathan Sergeant, and the mother 
of the wife of the Rev. Dr. Ewing, of Philadelphia. 



SAMUEL HEMPHILL, 



While* a probationer in Ireland, preached to the vacant con- 
gregation of Burt, and gave offence by his doctrine to the Rev. 
Patrick Vance. When Hemphill's name was published in the 
synod in the usual manner before ordination, Vance was present, 
but made no objections ; but in private he spoke of him freely as 
erroneous in his sentiments. When Hemphill came to America, 
Vance wrote to his brother-in-law, John Kilpatrick, (probably 
Kirkpatrick, the elder at Nottingham,) intimating his opinion of 
the man. Hemphill produced ample credentials to the synod 
from the Presbytery of Strabane ; and, having adopted the West- 
minster Confession and Catechisms as " the rule of his faith and 
the guide of his practice," he was received as a member. He 
preached at New London with acceptance; but, Kirkpatrick hav- 
ing showed Vance's letter to the ministers of Newcastle Presby- 
tery and to other persons, an investigation was made by that 
body, and they declared themselves satisfied with his teachings. 



* Hemphill's Remarks on Minutes of the Commission: Old South Church 
Library. 



SAMUEL HEMPHILL. 417 

Andrews* wrote to Colman from Philadelphia, June 14, 1735, 
" There seems to be now a more dreadful plot laid by Satan to 
root Christianity out of the world than ever was known before, so 
that all Christ's friends have reason to be awakened, and to do 
what they can to save the sinking ship. It has been, since Inst 
November, the most trying time with me that ever I met with. 
There came from Ireland, at that time, one Mr. Hemphill, to 
sojourn in town for the winter, as was pretended, till he could fall 
into business with some people in the country; though some think 
he had other views at first, considering the infidel disposition of 
too many here. Some desiring that 1 should have assistance, — 
and some leading men not disaffected to that way of Deism, as 
they should be, — that man was imposed on me and the congrega- 
tion. Most of the best of the people were soon so dissatisfied 
that they would not come to meeting. Freethinkers, deists, and 
nothings, getting a scout of him, flocked to hear. I attended all 
winter, but, making complaint, brought the ministers together, 
who acted as is shown in the books I send you." 

Hemphill said, Andrews invited him to preach once a day, and, 
being grieved at seeing multitudes come to hear him, went from 
house to house to prejudice the people against him. He called 
the commission; and they met, April 17, l(Jo5.f 

Pemberton was moderator: the members present were Creag- 
head, Cross, Pierson, Anderson, Gillespie, and Thomson. The 
Correspondents were Tennent, of Neshaminy, David Evans, Treat, 
Boyd, Hntcheson, Houston, Archibald, Jameson, Thomas Evans, 
Cathcart, Hubbeli, and Gilbert Tennent. 

" Never was there! such a trial known in the American 
World. I was obliged, though with great regret, to article 
against him." 

articles were, in substance, these :§ — 

1. The gospel is B revival, or new edition, of the law of nature, 
except two positive precepts, and the worship of God by a medi- 
ator. Taught in ■ sermon on Rom, viii. 8. 

J. The Lord's nipper is a means of promoting a good life; but 
in it the believer has no communion with Christ. Sermon on 
Gal. vi. 15. 

■ '-. I [e deolaimed against salvation by the merits of Christ, as 
representing God as .-tern and inexorable. He said Chrisl is 
preached up as n Ghana to fork up enthusiasm. Sermon on Acts 

.\.\iv. 1'). 



* M88. of American Antiquarian Society. 

f Franklin wiati ■ mod urtful, buidioni dialogue) and published It, many* 

•■■," ii irw dayi prei lowly, 
t Andrea I man. 

I .Minutes of the Oommiarfon: Old Bontb Church Library. 

27 



418 SAMUEL HEMPHILL. 

4. Faith is a persuasion, founded on natural grounds. Mys- 
teries were only for those times in which the apostles lived. 
Faith and obedience are the same thing. Sermon on Mark 
xvi. 16. 

5. Cornelius was a heathen when the angel appeared to him. 
Sermon on Acts x. 24. 

6. In preaching on Ps. xli. 4, — " Heal my soul," — he made no 
mention of original sin. He said, the passions and affections were 
right in themselves ; he did not include the blood of Christ among 
the remedies of the soul, and advanced a peculiar notion concern- 
ing hell. 

7. In preaching from Eph. ii. 8, he said, it referred to the hea- 
then, and not to us ; and asked, Is not James as good as Paul ? 

8. In prayer, he prays for mankind, and not for the church, 
and thanks God that he has given us reason for a rule. 

" If I am mistaken," said Andrews to the commission, "I shall 
be abundantly more ready to retract than to accuse." 

Hemphill objected to Thomson and Gillespie, as having avowed 
their opposition to him ; but the objection was overruled. 

Though he had promised to produce his notes, yet he fell back, 
and put Andrews on proof of his articles. 

Hemphill said he had promised to show Andrews his notes in 
private ; that he was not bound to furnish accusation against him- 
self ; and that it was contrary to the practice of the Church of 
Scotland to require it of him. He adds, but "they had prejudged 
the case already." 

Tennent and his son, however, testified that he had told them 
he would produce his notes to the commission. 

Andrews said, "I was put to a difficulty; for those that would 
have been evidences did not attend, and I could not persuade them 
to it; and others that could, would not." 

Hemphill says, "Andrews did produce two men; but their evi- 
dence was of no value." One of them, it is said, testified that he 
had heard many of the things specified by Andrews, but he could 
not repeat the exact words in which they were uttered, or name 
the text of the sermon in which they occurred. 

" Thus the first week, from Thursday, p.m., was spent." 

On Sabbath, Pemberton and Cross preached, and, Hemphill 
alleged, with the design of holding him up as a heretic to the 
people. They, in self-defence, printed their sermons. 

On Monday, he consented to bring his notes. "Then," said 
Andrews, "I left all to the ministers and meddled no more. As 
Providence ordered, all my charges came out fair." 

The notes were publicly read on Monday. Under the first 
article, he admitted he had said, " This is no more than to live ac- 
cording to our nature, and have the government of ourselves in 



SAMUEL HEMPHILL. 419 

our own hands. The gospel, as to its ultimate end and most 
essential parts, is implanted in our very nature and reason." 

The commission unanimously felt themselves obliged to declare 
his teachings unsound and dangerous, and suspended him. 

They printed their minutes, and appointed persons to defend 
what was done, who published a vindication of the commission 
from Hemphill's remarks on their minutes. 

" Since then," said Andrews, in July, " there have been many 
discourses of doing this and that; and, though some are so angry 
as to stay away, yet most give their attendance. There is in the 
press an answer to the 'Abstract of the Minutes and a Vindication 
of his Sermons;' what it will be, I know not. Upon the whole, I 
am weary of these things, though all carry fair ; and, though the 
best of the people dread the thing, I intend to get away and 
leave them." 

Franklin was a pcwholder in the Presbyterian church, and 
attended with much pleasure on Hemphill's preaching; and, 
finding that, though a fluent preacher, he could not write, he pre- 
pared oneor two pamphlets in his defence, besides several columns 
in the newspapers. 

<>m- of ill'-- was probably " Some Observations on the Pro- 
eeedings against Mr. Hemphill, with a Vindication of his Ser- 
mons. A second edition of this pamphlet appeared in 1735. 
The first issue was delayed by the illness of the printer. It is 
elaimed that, in all his discourses, Hemphill enforced Christian 
charity and the necessity of a good life. "The old man [Andrews] 
admitted that he was of an excellent temper." 

The commission having expressed surprise at his adopting the 
Confession, he replied, he had done so only so far as the funda- 
mental articles woe concerned. That he asked the commission 
how many articles they esteemed fundamental, and they said they 
could not tell; hut, his defender says, "they would make all 
rundamental to serve ;i turn." The commission had said, they 
"were obliged to declare him unsound and dangerous;" he insinu- 
ates that tie- declaration was made solely to save Andrews's 

character, and that they had " no pattern for their proceedings 
but that hellish tribunal, the Spanish [nquisition." 

A manuscripl note on one of the pamphlets 1 * states, that a 
Quaker woman appeared before the commission ami insisted on 
being heard in 1 [emphill'e behalf. 

The synod approved of the doing- of the commission; ami 
Hemphill sent a -illy message, in writing, with a postscript: — " L 

shall think yOU do me a deal of honour if you entirely exeom- 

munioate me." 

* Old Souih Chureli Lil.rury. 



420 ANDREW ARCHBOLD. 

In July, 1735, he preached twice to a very numerous assembly, 
where the congregation generally met. 

His pamphlet was soon answered; but, to the shame of his 
friends, it appeared that the sermon* on Mark xvi. 16 was in the 
published works of Dr. Clarke, the Arian, and those on Gal. vi.. 
15, Rom. viii. 8, and Ps. xli. 3, in the works of Dr. Ibbots, his 
colleague ; Dr. James Foster, also an Arian, being the author of 
the one on Acts xxiv. 25. 

Franklin f says, " Hemphill admitted that, by reading over a 
discourse two or three times, he could remember it so as to repeat 
it fluently from the pulpit as if extempore." " This, like a frost, 
nipped his popularity, and his adherents fell off like withered 
leaves, at once. Franklin upheld him, out of dislike to the old 
synod, and because he preferred hearing a man preach the fine 
compositions of others instead of his own ordinary or insipid pro- 
ductions." 

Another defence of Hemphill from Franklin's pen appeared, 
with this motto : — 

" I never knew any good to come from the meetings of 
priests. ' ' — Tillotson. 

"Wherefore, rebuke them sharply." — Paul 

Andrew Bradford, of New York, printed, in 1735, a satirical 
refutation of this piece : — " Remarks on Hemphill's Defence of his 
Observations, showing his orthodoxy, the excellency and meek- 
ness of his temper, and the justice of his complaints : by Obadiah 
Jenkins." 

The horrid profaneness of his book is censured, and his rude- 
ness in styling the synod men of impenetrable stupidity and 
reverend asses. He had said, that " original sin was as ridiculous 
as imputed righteousness," that there was "no need of spiritual 
pangs and convulsions," and that " good works put men in God's 
way and reconciles God to them." 

His plagiarism overwhelmed him : he slunk away into deserved 
obscurity. 



ANDREW ARCHBOLD 

Was ordained by Newcastle Presbytery in 1733, and was sus- 
pended in 1735. Two instances of his gross wickedness being 
discovered, he "wholly absconded." 

* Obadiah Jenkins's Remarks on Hemphill's Defence, 
•j- Memoirs. 



JOHN TENNENT. 421 



JOHN TENNENT, 

The third son of Torment, of Nesharniny, was born in county 
Armagh, (Ireland,) November 12, 1707.* His anguish when 
awakened was violent in degree. He had been subject to rash 
anger, and was for four days ''a rack of acute and continued 
anguish under dismal apprehensions of impending ruin and end- 
tisery from vengeance of a just and holy God." His con- 
solations were eminent and conspicuous. 

He was educated by his father, and was taken on trial by New- 
castle Presbytery, November 21, 172S, when he delivered lv a 
homily to universal satisfaction." He was licensed September 1>', 
lTi".', and went as supply to Brandywine, Middletown, Newcastle, 
and Middle and Lower Octorara. Reports being raised of his 
having spoken unwisely, Creaghead, Thomson, and Ilutelicson 
conferred with him, and were satisfied that the rumour was un- 
founded. 

About this time Freehold became vacant, and the people were 
SO grievously divided, that there seemed no hope of their ever 
settling a minister. Walter Kerr left his harvest-fieldf and went 
to Neshaminy to persuade Tenncnt to go home with him. He 

totally refused; but Kerr told him, on leaving him, that he knew lie 
would soon decide differently. lie sent after Kerr to say he would 
come; but, on coming, he expressed his regret in having consented 
to visit a people who seemed given up by God for their abuse of 
the gospel 

Then- was a German sect that styled themselves " The New 
Born," and were widely spoken of for their follies and their sins. 
In Monmouth, this name was applied in derision to those who nro- 

I to experience religion under the faithful labours of Freling- 

huy-eii and the English minu 

Tennent stayed only four or five Sabbaths; bul the Lord so 
blessed his labours] thai he was thoroughly per uaded Christ had 

a full harvest tO bring home there. Ee said that, should they call 

him, he would settle with them, poor and broken though they were, 

and though, by so doing, be Bnould be put to beg hi- bread. 1 Ie 
had :i unanimous call, April L5, L780, and was ordained by Phila- 
delphia Presbytery, November 19. Rightly dividing the word of 

I by l»r. Alexander, from bit life by Gilbert Tennent. 
j- On lii- 1 return, he found thai bii neighbour* bad bul 1 » i — grain and a) 
I the crop followed through tome accident after bo 
i i, and furnished seed to those who hsd so kindly reaped b 

i i to me by the Hev. Job P. B 

J Ifilliam Tennent, of Freehold, In the Christian n 



422 WILLIAM TENNEKT. 

truth, he avoided that "bane of preaching,* setting a common 
mess before his hearers and leaving to them to divide it among 
themselves as fancy and humour directed." Wonderful success 
attended him; the place of worship was usually crowded with 
persons of all classes and persuasions, listening as for their lives. 
Sometimes the body of the congregation was moved, minister and 
people being wet with tears, many sobbing, and some carried out 
as if they were dead. There was "no public outcry." A great 
reformation followed; "all talked of religion, though all did not 
approve of the power of it." 

He died April 23, 1732, aged twenty-five; for six months before 
he was unable to preach, his pulpit being supplied by his brother 
"William. During his sickness, many came, inquiring what they 
must do to be saved ; but the blessing on his labours to the con- 
viction and conversion of souls, was more discernible after his 
death. Almost in every neighbourhood were sin-sick souls, longing 
for Christ, the dear physician. 

His brother Gilbert appended to his "Presumptuous Sinner De- 
tected," a life of his brother, with his two sermons on the "Nature 
of Regeneration, and its absolute necessity in order to Salvation 
demonstrated." Whitefield, on reading it, exclaimed, "Let me die 
the death of that righteous man !" Dickinson prepared an epitaph 
for his tomb. Dr. Alexander speaks of his sermons as in no way 
remarkable, but sensible, solemn, and earnest. 



WILLIAM TENNENT, 



The second son of the minister of Neshaminy, was born in 
county Antrim, June 3, 1705. 

He was early led to the Saviour, and, upon finishing his classical 
course with his father, he beganf the study of divinity with his 
brother Gilbert. While preparing for examination before the 
presbytery, he fell ill with a pain in his breast and a slight hectic 
fever. His flesh dropped away till little hope of life remained; 
his spirits sunk, and his hope of salvation was wellnigh gone. 
While conversing with Gilbert in Latin on his fears for his soul, he 
fainted, and every sign of life departed except a scarcely-percept- 
ible tremour under the left arm. He was laid on a cooling-board ; 



* Gilbert Tennent. 

t Memoir of Tennent, of Freehold, by Dr. Henderson, and commonly ascribed 
to Elias Boudinot. 



WILLIAM TENXEXT. 423 

but the physician, a young man, his intimate friend, having put his 
own hand in warm water, felt the heart and affirmed that there was 
an unusual warmth. The eyes were sunk, the lips discoloured. 
Gilbert, hearing a hope expressed that he was not yet dead, ex- 
claimed, " What ! a man not dead that is as cold and stiff as a stake !" 
The body was restored to a warm bed. and all probable means used 
without success. On the third day the tongue was Swollen and 
ready to craek : the physician moistened the lips, and Gilbert 
blamed him for "feeding the dead." Suddenly the eyes opened; 
and, with a dreadful groan, the body sunk as if twice dead. In 
about an hour the eyea again opened, the dreadful groan followed, 
and then all was deathlike. In an hour, however, there was a re- 
vival of the vital action: for six weeks he was so low that his life 
was despaired of; in a twelvemonth he regained his health. 

Bis own account, as given to his elder, Dr. Henderson, and to 
hie successor, Dr. Woodhull, was, that the three days seemed like 
twenty minutes; that he felt himself wafted along under the guid- 

if a superior being, till at a distance he beheld an unutterable 

glory; he saw an innumerable host of happy beings, and heard 

their songs of praise with capture. He thought, "Well, blessed be 

I am Safe at last, notwithstanding all my fears." lie was 
about to join the happy company, when one came to him and said, 
'•Von must go back." It was like a sword through his heart: 
with the shock he awoke, and saw his brother disputing with the 

II.- had lost all his knowledge; he did not know the Bible, nor 
how to read, nor what reading meant. When he became sapable 
«'l' attention, he was taught to read, like a child, and, when reciting 
Nepos, it appeared to him he had read the book before. Gradually 
his knowledge and his health were fully restored. 

Be was licensed by Philadelphia Presbytery,.and, being railed to 
id his brother John, he was ordained by Philadelphia Presby* 
teij, I October 25, 1733. 

Bit not large, but there was an excellent plantation 

attached to the parsonage: leaving the care of it entirely to an 

e became clogged with debt. He married the widow 

of Mr. John Noble, of New fork, and left to her the management 

Of all his affair.-. When his oldest child was about three or four 

of age, hia views of duty ohanged, and he saw the propriety 
of a minister's making reasonable provision for his household. 

After the remarkable outpouring of the Spirit on his brother's 

Labours, God continued to blesa his ordinances to the oonviotion, 

conversion, and consolation of proems • thai every year 

pr less were converted; bat there were fewer from ITI_' to 

'•H than formerly. Some, however, were awakened in 17' 1. 

Wbil . in bia journeys aero - te, on week- 



424 WILLIAM TEXNEXT. 

days, in Freehold: "the new meeting-house" is mentioned in 1729. 
In the next April, Tennent refreshed Whitefield by telling him 
what God was doing for hundreds in the Highlands of New York, 
where he had lately been. 

His brother Gilbert mentions, in 1740, that his labours at that 
time were remarkably blessed in Burlington county. Several reli- 
gious societies were formed there. 

In 1757, a revival was granted to Freehold, equal in power to 
that which was then descending on the College of New Jersey. 
Burr speaks of it, in June, as a remarkable revival : — 

"We have reason to remember it as the most glorious day of the 
Son of man. The assembly was large. The manner of administra- 
tion did particularly engage their attention. It appeared as one 
of the days of heaven to some of us, and we wished that, with 
Joshua, we could have delayed the revolutions of the heavens to 
prolong it." 

In March, 1753, there was a remarkable revival and quickenings. 

During the exciting scenes in the synod, he appears to have been 
a silent but steady supporter of his brother ; in all the fierceness 
of the pamphlet-warfare, not a syllable was uttered against him. 
He visited Virginia, in company with Samuel Blair, and assisted in 
dispensing the Lord's Supper in Hanover. 

In company with Rowland and two elders from Hopewell, in 
New Jersey, he attended a sacramental occasion in Maryland, in 
1741 or '42. Not long after, Rowland was indicted for having stolen 
a horse in Hunterdon county, New Jersey. The time when the 
theft was committed being the time when he was with them in 
Maryland, Tennent and the elders came forward and proved that 
he was a hundred miles distant at the period alleged. Rowland 
was acquitted, but was assailed with a storm of invective, as having 
escaped by perjury. Tennent was indicted, and the elders ; one 
was convicted, and the other escaped only by taking advantage of 
some error on the part of the prosecution. Able counsel appeared 
for Tennent; but, instead of sending for the minister, or others 
from Maryland, to sustain his veracity, they proposed that he 
should avail himself of a flaw. This he would not do ; and, just 
before the case came on, a man and his wife presented themselves 
to him, having come from Maryland in consequence of dreams of 
danger portending, which only their presence could avert from him. 
They must have been persons known in Trenton ; for their testi- 
mony was admitted, and the prosecution abandoned. 

"His manner was remarkably impressive, and his sermons, 
though seldom polished, were generally delivered with indescrib- 
able power; what he said seldom failed to instruct and please. 
He was remarkable for a pointed attention to the particular cir- 
cumstances of the afflicted in body and mind. Eminent as a 



WILLIAM TEXXEXT. 425 

peacemaker, all were charmed with his converse. His hospi- 
tality and domestic enjoyments were proverbial. 

" More than six feet Wgh, of a spare, thin visage, erect carriage, 
with bright, piercing eyes, his countenance was grave and solemn, 
yet at all times cheerful. He lived above the world, with such 
clear views of heavenly things as seemed to give him a foretaste of 
them." 

Tennent took a deep interest in Brainerd's mission, and for a 
Season took the oversight of it. When Whitefield visited him, he 
saw with delight the school, and marked the proficiency of the 
pnpilfi under Tennent's fatherly care. The life of Tennent was 
long. He devoted much time to the education of youth, and 
trained several in philosophy and divinity. Among others who 
studied theology with him were dimming, McWhortcr, and Oliver 
Hart, pastor of a Baptist church in Charleston. He had the 
pleasure of seeing his sons, John and William, awakened during 
the revival at Princeton, under Dr. Finley; and of seeing another 
of great promise, but of loose habits, graciously brought back, on 
a bed of sickness, to the Shepherd and Bishop of his soul. This 
BOD died soon after. Another died in the West Indies; and his son 
William, a distinguished minister and patriot in South Carolina, 
was suddenly called from earth, not long after his father's decease. 

Unlike Gilbert, he published but one sermon, — a plain, judicious 
discourse on Galatians v. 25. It was printed in Boston, in 1739*, 
in the "Sacramental Discourses." 

Many striking incidents in his life are so universally known, 
that, beyond all the ministers of his day, he lives in the memory of 
the people. 

It has been supposed that he was a sleep-walker, from his 
having 

" p. mo to bed with ton toes on, 
An 1 when he Waked up, one was gone;" 

smartly said of him, by one who ridiouled his undertaking to 
give advice to "His Grace the Archbishop of Canterbury." The 

Isappeared; whether cut off by treading on glass in a som? 
nambulism,* or gnawed oil' by rats, or how else, may be disputed. 
Can it be that Tennenl believed that he who contended with 
Michael for tin' body of Moses strove also for bis, and, failing, 

Wrenched Off the great toe'.'' Such i.> the tradition. 



* A ■ rapp ■-■! by Dr. Alexander. 



426 SAMUEL BLAIR. 



SAMUEL BLAIR 

Was born in Ireland, June 14, 1712, and came to this country 
when a lad. Where his parents* resided is not mentioned. " He 
was blestf with early piety, and on his death-bed could recollect, 
with delight, various evidences of gracious influence in his tender 
years. He was made sensible, betimes, of his guilty state by na- 
ture and practice, felt his total inability to deliver himself, saw 
plainly that he lay at mercy, and that it was entirely at God's 
good pleasure to save or reject him. He was restless till he saw 
the way of life, — that God could save in consistence with the 
honour of governing justice, for that the obedience and sufferings 
of Christ in the room of sinners have made sufficient atonement 
for sin. His soul approved of the divine glorious plan. Strict 
holiness was his choice. He grew in stature and in grace." 

He studied at the Log College, became conversant with the 
original languages of the Scriptures, and had much critical learn- 
ing, with a thorough knowledge of divinity. He was licensed, 
November 9, 173-3, at Abingdon, by Philadelphia Presbytery, at 
their first meeting after the Presbytery of East Jersey was set off; 
he preached his trial sermon before them, on Romans iv. 5. He 
was called, May 24, 1734, to Middletown and Shrewsbury, and 
also to Millstone and Cranberry. He accepted the former, Sep- 
tember 19, and was dismissed to East Jersey Presbytery, and was 
soon after ordained. When licensed, and when ordained, he de- 
clared his acceptance of the Westminster Confession, Catechisms, 
and Directory. 

Middletown and Shrewsbury were among the towns first settled 
in East Jersey. A Baptist church was organized at the former 
place in 1689. There was a Presbyterian church there before 
1711,| and "the spirit of mixed communion prevailed in both 
societies. The divisions among the Baptists rose very high ; and, 
as a healing measure, they agreed "to keep their own places, and 
not wander to other societies." Blair met with little success, the 
people in both of his congregations "being very irreligious." His 
pastoral relation was dissolved, September 5, 1739, and he was dis- 
missed by Brunswick Presbytery, October 12, to join Newcastle 
Presbytery. A sermon of his was published, about this time, in 
Boston, in a volume of Tennent's "Sacramental Discourses." 



* The name of William Blair occurs as an elder in 1729, and 1732, from Brandy- 
wine or Red Clay. f Finley's sermon at his funeral, 
j Morgan Edwards's History of New Jersey Baptists. 



SAMUEL BLAIR. 4-, 

His three sermons on Justification -were also published, and are 
commended by Seward, in 1740, as full of solid divinity. 

At the earnest invitation of the people of Fagg's Manor, he 
removed thither in the beginning of November, accepted their call 
in the winter, and was installed in April. The place was newly 
settled, from Ireland; the congregation had been formed in 1730, 
but had never had a minister. Some of them applied* to the As- 
sociate Presbytery in Scotland, in 1735, but without success. It 
Wati a great encouragement to Blairf to find some hopefully-pious 
people among them at his first coming; but religion lay as it were 
dying, and ready to expire its last breath. "Having some view 
and sense of the deplorable condition of the land in general, the 
scope of my preaching for the first winter was mainly calculated 
for persons in a natural unregenerate state. I dealt solemnly and 
searchingly: four or five were brought under deep convictions. 
Leaving home in March, I obtained a neighbouring minister to 
preach a Sabbath in my absence." This was, in all probability, 
Alexander Craighead, of Middle Octorara. " He seemed to be 
earnest for the awakening and conversion of secure sinners. He 
.ed, from Luke xiii. 7, on the dangerous and awful case of 
Bach as continue unregenerate and unfruitful under the means of 
grace. Under that sermon there was a visible appearance of much 
soul-concern; some burst out with an audible noise into bitter cry- 
ing, — a thing unknown in those parte before." "A pretty light, 
merry sort of a youth" came to Blair, on his return, under deep 
trouble. The sermon had not impressed him; but, the next day, 
When be went to grubbing in order to clear new land, as he saw a 
large tree with a high top fall, the words "Cut it down: 
inmbereth it the ground?" came to his remembrance, and 
went as a spear to his heart. "So must I be cut down by the jus- 
t i'-'- of God for the burning of hell, unless I get into another state 
than 1 am now in." He came under deep and abiding distress: 

'•his conversation since becomes the gospel of Christ." 
Blair's first sermon, on coming back, was from Matthew vi. 33. 

Iii pressing the injunction, be urged that they had already too, too 

long neglected to seek the kingdom. This catlike a sword; and 
.I could not contain, bat burst out into the most bitter weep- 
ing. He besought them to moderate their passions, but so as not 
to stifle convictions, and to avoid hindering themselves and others 

from hearing what Was S]H>ken. The number of the awal.ened 

ed very fast; scarcely a Bermon or a lecture through the 
whole summer failed to produoe Impressions. 
< >i"ten these impressions were very great and genera] : Borne were 



■y of the Beeeuion Chnroh. 
f Letter In Christian n 



428 SAMUEL BLAIR. 

overcome and fainting, others deeply sobbing ; some crying in a 
most dolorous manner, many more silently weeping; a solemn con- 
cern on every face. Comparatively, a few were affected with some 
strange, unusual bodily motions. Very few in the congregation 
were without solemn thoughtfulness about their souls. The awa- 
kened had a rational, fixed conviction of their dangerous perishing 
state ; they were much given to reading the Scriptures and good 
books. Excellent works, which had lain neglected, were perused, 
and lent from one to another. Blair preached on Fridays, through 
the spring and summer, his great aim being to lay open the de- 
plorable state of man, by nature, since the fall, and the way of the 
sinner's closing with Christ by faith, and obtaining a right peace 
to an awakened, wounded conscience. 

Many afforded very hopeful, satisfying evidence that the Lord 
had brought them to a true closure with Jesus Christ : several had 
had remarkable and sweet deliverances. 

Towards the end of the summer, there seemed to be a stop put 
to the awakening and conviction of sinners ; and, for the next four 
years, there were few instances of persons convinced. Blair makes 
no mention of the two visits of Whitefield. He made a torn - of 
preaching through New England in the summer of 1744. 

Of the rupture of 1741, Blair spoke when near his end, "It 
pleased God to make me and a number of my brethren instru- 
mental in promoting what I always believed was a work of his 
power and grace ; but, somehow or other, our mother's children were 
angry with us who were instrumental in carrying it on, and unjustly 
excluded us from communion with them." 

Blair published a "Vindication of the Excluded Brethren," an 
answer to Thomson on the "Government of the Church," and to 
Creaghead's "Reasons for Forsaking our Church;" also, a "Trea- 
tise on Predestination." 

His school produced such men as Davies, Rodgers, Cumming, 
James Finley, Robert Smith, and Hugh Henry. "Each one re- 
sembled the children of a king." As scholars, preachers, pastors, 
patriots, — in their piety and their success, — a noble company, a 
goodly fellowship, showing the church what manner of men the 
apostles and martyrs were. 

Blair spoke* as one who knew the worth of souls, and felt in 
himself the sweet constraint of the love of God and man. He 
was grave and solemn, yet cheerful, even pleasant, facetious, 
witty. 

Davies spoke of him as the incomparable Blair. "When, in 
1753, I passed the meeting-house where I had so often heard the 
great Mr. Blair, I could not help crying out, ' Oh, how dreadful is 



Finley. 



SAMUEL BLAIR. 429 

this place ! this is no other than the house of God, and this is the 
gate of heaven.' " 

He was a man of great weight in judicatories : "they waited for 
him as the rain." His zeal for the college made him journey when 
sick to promote its interests. After severe sickness in Philadel- 
phia, he was, beyond his expectation, restored to health and home; 
he then laboured as one near his end to awaken the perishing, but, 
failing, he changed his strain; "only he publicly reminded them of 
a certain day, March 25, 1744, when he was enabled to set eternal 
things before them with more than ordinary solemnity and pun- 
gency." 

He then entered on a new course of sermons for the edification 
and establishment of the people of God, wherein he clearly ex- 
plained and satisfyingly confirmed the whole system of gospel doc- 
trine, from the state of innocence to the consummation of all 
things. He concluded the course with a sermon on 1 Corinthians xv. 
24, with which he may be said to have closed his public ministry; for, 
though he afterwards preached twice, it was with so little strength 
and efficacy, that lie called them "supernumerary sermons." 

On the 7th of April, 1751, apprehending his end to be near, he 
sent for the elders and two out of every quarter of the congrega- 
tion, and gave them his parting counsels. He asked them to col- 
lect tin- remnant of his debts and give their good countenance to 
hifl widow and his half-a-score of children. "Adhere to your own 
presbytery ; but, if the synods unite, be not obstinate and separate." 
In seeking a successor, lie bids them not to expect from a young 
man. at the outset, all that they saw in him after many years of 
experienced His son-in-law, Robert Smith, of Pequea, published 
hifl 'lying counsels, with several of his sermons. 

Blair bad, through a long course of years, an habitual assurance 
of his interest in the favour of God. His last words, a minute or 
two before his departure, were, "The Bridegroom .is come, and 
now we shall have all things;" and, under a gleam of heaven, he 
breathed bis last, on .inly 5, 1751. 

Jl ion Samuel was early in life elected to the presidency of 

i Hall, and was settled in the Old South Church in Boston. 

Hi- daughters married the Rev. George Duffield, Robert Smith, 
David Rice, of Kentucky, William Poster, of Octorara, and John 
Carmichael, of the Porks of Brandywine. 

He wai above the middle stature, comely, ami well set ; in aspect 
grave and venerable, with a clear understanding, quick apprehen- 
sion, prompt ••locution, solid judgment, Btrong and lively imagina- 
tion, and tenacious memory. Hi- voire was clear and command- 
ing; Ins pronunciation distinct and deliberate; his style natural, 
elegant, pure. He studied plainness, being naturally poetic, copi" 

OUS, and florid; preaching without notes, but seldom or m\er eX 



430 SAMUEL BLAIR. 

tempore. His advise to Dr. Rodgers was, ''Speak slow; speak 
low; be short." 

Finley speaks of him as gentle, prudent, cautious ; as having a 
glorious arousing view of God's power, the wisdom of his govern- 
ment, and the riches of his grace, with a particular appropriation 
of them to himself and his. His was a divine calmness. 

Davies said to Bellamy, " The greatest light in these parts is 
just about to take wing." In his travels in Great Britain, he 
heard no one equal to his instructor ; not one whom he thought, in 
any way, to resemble or approach to him in the matter or the de- 
livery of his discourses. 

In his elegiac verses* he says : — 

"Blair is no more! then this poor world has lost 
As rich a jewel as her stores could boast. 
While, hovering on the verge of life, he lay 
Eager for flight, and yet resign'd to stay, 
How oft did we, in agonies of prayer, 
Wrestle with Heaven his sacred breath to spare I 
But, ah ! his worth but cherish'd our despair, 
And threaten'd the denial of our prayer. 
So great, so heavenly, so mature a mind 
Required employment of a nobler kind. 
Too much refined in this dark world to bear 
The humble place of Zion's minister, 
Heaven call'd him to sustain some nobler function there. 

An intellect as clear as blaze of day, 
Sedate as midnight, boundless as the sea, 
Free as the wind, yet steady as the pole, 
Passive to truth, impatient of control 
From vulgar error ; regular and smooth 
As genuine reason and harmonious truth; 
Truth link'd to truth and thought to thought conjoin'd 
Spontaneous rose in his harmonious mind ; 
His rude, unstudied thoughts in order sprung, 
Express'd in equal order by his tongue ; 
Clusters of ripen' d sense on each young period hung. 
His passions vigorous, yet by reason ruled, 
By calmest reason kindled, temper'd, cool'd ; 
His heart reserved as prudence, and confined, 
And yet as truth sincere, as weeping friendship kind. 

His life, a fix'd, unerring walk with God, 
A constant progress in the heavenly road ; 
His heart, the rest of constant peace and love ; 
There glow'd the passions seraphs feel above; 
There, pleased and unmolested, dwelt the heavenly dove. 
His breath, like grateful incense, to the skies 
Did daily in refined devotions rise. 
His soul exerted with his praying breath 
The almighty importunity of faith ; 
Hence guilty heads escape the falling blow, 
And blessings to unworthy millions flow. 
Nations partook the bounty of his prayer 
And future times the benefit shall share." 

* Printed in the collection of his sermons published after his death, containing 
Finley's funeral sermon, and Robert Smith's account of his closing days. 



JAMES MARTIN — ROBERT JAMISON. 431 



JAMES MAETIX, 

From Ireland, was the pastor of Lewes, in Delaware, in 1734, 
ami died there in 1743. lie is said to have organized the church 
at < '""1 Spring. 

Whitefield landed about five (o'clock) in the evening of October 
3. 17;;'.'. at Lewestown; and, in reference to this event, he ob- 
. ,l We had not been long in the inn but two or three of 
the chief inhabitants, being apprized of his arrival, came and 
spent the evening with us, and desired me to give them a sermon 
on the morrow." 

lb- preached there, in 1740. to "as unaffected a congregation 
as be had Been in America. They wept, next day, when he por- 
trayed the trial of Abraham's faith. Alas ! when I turned from 
eatnre to the Creator, and to talk of the love of God in 
sacrificing his only Sun, I observed their tears dry up. I told 
them of it; and could not but infer hence the dreadful depravity 
of human nature, that can weep at the sufferings of a martyr. — a 
man like ourselves; but when are we affected at the relation of 
the sufferings of the Son of God?" 

The Church missionary gives a different view. He says White- 
field preached from a balcony, and that the enthusiasm of the 
people was violent, but after a time it abated. 

Martin signed the Protest in 1741. His death is mentioned in 



Ma,. 17 b; 



ROBERT JAMISON, 

From Ireland, settled in Delaware, and was a member of Bynod 
in 17::i. 

From a manuscript of Joshua Evans,* an Independent, it 

appears thai there were Welsh Baptists al Duck Creek: j and that 

tlir first nam.' of their meeting-nouse was Bryn-Sion, /.<•. Zion 

Hill. The Presbyterian meeting-house was buill in 1 T - J - ' , on land 

Mr. Dickinson. Thomas Evans preached the first ser- 

• Quo! irda, in lii- ms ir.-i.i-. of the Btptiftaia DeUmurt) 

. Bl r.-m.iiii". 



432 ISAAC CHALKEK. 

mon in it, August 12, 1733, and administered the communion, 
November 9. At first the Baptists used the house, but after- 
wards worshipped in private houses. There was a great mortality 
in that region in the spring of 1737. Jamison began to preach, 
December 26, 1734. 

He died in 1744 ; and, the congregation having neglected to 
have the property conveyed to them by deed, it reverted, during 
the long vacancy that followed, to the Dickinsons, and was made 
over to the Baptists in 1771. 



ISAAC CHALKER. 

Of the family of Chalkers in Saybrook, Connecticut, graduated 
at Yale in 1728 ; and, after being licensed, he married, and re- 
sided on Long Island. He was ordained, in 1734, by East Jersey 
Presbytery, pastor of Bethlehem and Wallkill, in the Highlands 
of New York. John Smith, an elder from Bethlehem, sat with 
him in the synod in 1735, and is almost* the only elder who, for 
fifty years, asked to have his dissent entered against a synodical 
decision. The presbytery had ordained Chalker at a distance 
from his congregations; and he found himself in great difficulty 
at Wallkill, through a wide-spread report of his not having 
adopted the Westminster Confession. He had lost the good-will 
of Samuel Neely, of Neelytown. The synod judged that Chalker 
was hearty in his adherence to our standards, and that Neely was 
to blame in exciting discontent. 

Chalker left the bounds of the synod in 1743, havingf lost his 
stock of cattle in the extremity of the cold winter of 1741-2. 
He also "lost a man," became very poor, and much in debt. In 
1744, he was settled in Eastbury, (Second Society in Glasten- 
bury,) Connecticut, with a settlement of three hundred pounds, old 
tenor, and a salary of one hundred and thirty pounds a year. He 
petitioned the legislature for relief, and aid was granted to him, 
but not sufficient to set him free from his embarrassments. He 
remained until 1760, and died, May 28, 1765. 



* John Gardner, of White Clay, did the same in the case of Walton, 
f MSS. Connecticut State Library. 



BIMOH HORTON — HUGH CARLISLE. 433 



SIMON HORTON 

WAS born in Boston, March 30, 1711. The family removed to 
East Jersey in 17^7; and he graduated at Yale in 1731. He was 
Drdained, by East Jersey Presbytery, pastor of Connecticut Farms, 
New Jersey, in 1734. He succeeded Pumry at Newtown in 1740. 
On the death of Colgan,* Church missionary at Jamaica, Long 
Island, the Dissenters prevailed — by their majority in the vestry 
in 1756 — to present to the governor " one Simon Horton" for 
induction into the parish; but Sir Charles Hardy, who was then 
at the head of the Provincial Government, refused to induct him 
into the cure. 

Horton seems to have resigned the pastoral care before 1773, 
as is supposed,! from his becoming sensible that he was not likely 
to do them good, by his plain and unattractive manner ; but, on 
the removal of Bay, his successor, he acted as stated supply until 
hie death, May s , 1786, aired seventy-five. 

J I" was sent yearly by New York Presbytery, towards the 
close of his life, to supply the East and West Houses on Staten 
Island. Davies heard Horton, during the synod of 1753, preach 
on Sabbath morning "an honest, judicious sermon" on " Christ the 
Wisdom and the Power of God." 

During the Revolution,]; he resided at Warwick, Orange county, 
with his son-in-law, Benjamin Coe. The congregation of New- 
town was so scattered during the war, that, at its close, there were 
only five communicants in the congregation. The church was 
dilapidated through the madness of the British and the Tories. 



HUGH CARLISLE 



W\- " admitted into the Newcastle Presbytery" before Septem- 
ber, L785, probably from Greal Britain <>r Ireland. H<' adopted 
the standards a1 thai time; but, nut having seen the Adopting Act 

until lie met with the sy 1, " lie bad the same read t<> bim, and 

did then concur in bis assent to the terms of it." At that time, 



;r:\. 

f Kik- . : >■ wtown. I U'i'l- 



434 ALEXANDER CRAIGHEAD. 

Newtown and Plumstead, in Bucks county, obtained leave of Phila- 
delphia Presbytery to employ him; and he joined that body in 
June, 1736. Hugh Hunter and Anthony Thompson requested the 
presbytery that a call might be moderated for him. Treat was 
directed to preside. The call was presented in May, 1737; but, 
in August, he declined it, on account of the distance of Plumstead 
from Newtown. He. continued to service them, and was sent, in 
November, to supply Amwell and Bethlehem, in Hunterdon 
county, New Jersey, with other vacancies. Martin met with 
Philadelphia Presbytery, March 14, 1738, to request that Carlisle 
might go into the bounds of Lewes Presbytery. He removed at 
once, and is mentioned as a member of that presbytery in 1742 : 
subsequently his name is not seen. 



ALEXANDER CRAIGHEAD 

Was probably the son of the Rev. Thomas Craighead, and 
may have been born in this country. He appeared before Done- 
gal Presbytery, January 5, 1734; and was licensed October 8, 
having preached from Prov. x. 9. He was sent to Middle Octo- 
rara and " over the river," being the first to whom that duty was 
assigned. He was called (April 9, 1735) to Middle Octorara, the 
people promising sixty pounds, and declaring their ability to raise 
seventy-one pounds. He accepted in June, and was appointed to 
prepare a sermon on Col. ii. 7, a lecture on the first Psalm, and to 
discuss the question, Where revelation is necessary to salvation ? 
He was ordained November 18, Boyd having preached from 2 Tim. 
ii. 15. 

A zealous promoter of the " Revival," he accompanied White- 
field while in Chester county ; and they made the woods ring, as 
they rode, with songs of praise.* 

He carried the gospel to the people of New London, in opposi- 
tion to the wish of the minister, session, and most of the congre- 
gation. A part of his flock complained of his introducing new 
terms of communion, requiring them, when having their children 
baptized, to adopt the Solemn League and Covenant. He also 
was charged with denying that ministers should be confined within 

* Whitefield, after preaching at Willingston,( Wilmington,) rode towards Not- 
tingham with Tennent, Craighead, and Blair, accompanied by many from Phila- 
delphia, most sweetly singing and praising God, May 13, 1740. — Gillies. 



ALEXANDER CRAIGHEAD. 435 

the bounds of one congregation, but should roam as evangelists; 
and with excluding from communion one who seemed opposed to 
the new methods. 

The presbytery came to his meeting-house in December, 1740, 
to adjudicate the case. He was preaching from — " They be blind 
leaden of the blind." It was a continued invective against 
Pharisee preachers, and the presbytery, as given over to judicial 
blindness and hardness. "He railed on Mr. Boyd." The people 
were invited at the close to repair to "the tent" and hear his de- 
fence, which was read by David Alexander and Samuel Finley. 

The presbytery, though summoned to hear it, remained in the 
church, and were proceeding to business, when the people rose in 
a tumult, and, with railing, compelled them to withdraw. When 
they met next day, he, with his coadjutors, appeared; and, 
having read the defence from the pulpit, he declined their juris- 
diction, because they all were his accusers. They suspended 
him ; but resolved that, if he should signify his repentance to 
any member, a meeting should be called at once, to consider his 
acknowledgment and take off the suspension, lie sat in the next 
synod; and. they having spent the first week in considering his 
case without coming to any decision, the Protest was introduced 
on Monday, and separated the conflicting parties. 

Some oi hi- people respected the sentence of the presbytery, 
and forsook him. lie asked the presbytery, just before the rup- 
ture, to see to it that those persons fulfilled their engagements to 
him. 

Be separated prom the Brunswick party at the first meeting of 
onjunct presbyteries, because they refused to revive the 
Solemn League and Covenant. Soon after, he published hie rea- 
loni for leaving their connection, putting forward, as his promi- 
nent inducement, that neither Bynod uor presbytery had adopted 
the Westminster Standards by a public act. Blair replied to him; 
Gilbert Tennent lamented his party-spirit and censoriousness^ 
Craighead addressed the Reformed Presbytery in Scotland, declare 
ing his adherence to their news and methods, and Bolioiting helpers. 
lie issued a manifesto, setting forth his opinions, to draw together 

all who held the like sentiments. 

Thomas Cookson, Bsq., one of his Majesty's justices for Lan- 
oounty, appeared before the Synod of Philadelphia, Maj 26, 
IT 18, and, in the name of the governor, laid before them a paper 
to be considered. All other business was at once deferred, and 
the paper, with an accompanying affidavit, was read. The synod 1 
unanimously agreed, "Thai it is full of treason, sedition, and dis- 
traction, and ;_ r i i< rting of the sacred oracle-, to the ruin 

of all societies and civil government, and directly and diametrically 

■ it- prinoip have on all occasions 



436 ALEXANDER CRAIGHEAD. 

openly and publicly declared. We hereby declare, with the greatest 
sincerity, that we detest this paper, and, with it, all principles and 
practices that tend to destroy the civil and religious rights of man- 
kind, or to foment or encourage sedition or dissatisfaction with the 
civil government that we are now under, or rebellion, treason, or 
any thing that is disloyal. If Mr. Alexander Craighead be the 
author, we know nothing of the matter. He has been no member 
of our society for some time past, nor do we acknowledge him as 
such, and heartily lament that any man that was ever called a 
Presbyterian should be guilty of what is in this paper." 

Dickinson, Pemberton, Alison, and the moderator, Cowell, pre- 
pared an address to the governor. It was presented to him, with a 
copy of the minute, by Andrews, Cross, and Cathcart. 

Tennent said, about the same time, "His late and present divi- 
sive conduct we utterly detest and disclaim. I hope he is a pious 
man ; but, having more zeal and positiveness than knowledge and 
judgment, he has schismatically broken communion with us, and 
adopted the rigid Cameronian scheme. He is indeed tinged with 
an uncharitable and party spirit, to the great prejudice of real reli- 
gion in some places this way. May the Almighty forgive him and 
rectify his judgment!" 

His success in forming praying societies is not known ; no minis- 
ter came from Britain to his assistance. 

"With apparent sincerity, he objected to the deficiency of the 
system on which the Philadelphia Synod was constituted, and, with 
seeming sincerity, joined himself to the support of the languishing 
cause of the Reformed Presbyterian Church. He did not, how- 
ever, possess stability. Overstrained zeal is seldom permanent. 
This man, having co-operated with the Covenanters with an ardour 
which appeared to some of them enthusiastic, left his profession 
and vows, and turned to the flocks of his former companions. The 
societies which he had forsaken continued eight years in this dis- 
tressed condition, until, moved by their entreaties, the Rev. John 
Cuthbertson* came to them from Scotland, in 1752. "f 

In 1751, he wrote to the Anti-Burgher Associate Presbytery in 
Scotland ; but, though ministers were directed by the presbytery to 
go in answer to his appeal, they failed to comply. 

He is said to have removed to Windy Cove, on Cpwpasture River, 
in Augusta county, Virginia, in 1749 ;J but it was probably not till 
after the ill success of his second application to Scotland. A 



* Through the kindness of the Rev. T. W. J. Wylie, of the Reformed Presbyte- 
rian Church, I learn that Cuthbertson laboured forty years at Middle Octorara, 
Lancaster county, and joined in forming the Associate Reformed body. He died 
there. March 10, 1791, aged seventy-three. 

j- Reformed Principles exhibited by the Reformed Presbyterian Church. 

J Dr. Foote's Sketches of Virginia. 



ALEXANDER CRAIGHEAD. 437 

large* buttonwood-tree, close to the river-bank, marks the site 
•where stood his humble cabin. About a half mile above, stood his 
little log church; nothing now remains of it but a few Btones of 
the back-wall of the fireplace, amidst a thick grove of pines. He 
and his people went to the house of God fully equipped to meet 
any sudden attack of savage-. He joined Newcastle Presbytery 
before the fall of ll'A. On Braddoek's defeat, his congregation 
fled from the frontier, and a portion settled in North Carolina. 

11 e met with Hanover Presbytery, September 2, 1757, and, in 
January, was sent to Rocky River, in North Carolina, and to other 
vacancies. He was called, in April, to Rocky River; and Richard- 
son, on his way to labour among the Cherokees, was directed to 
in-tall him. 

He died in March, 17o'o', leaving behind him the affectionate 
remembrance of his faithful, abundant, and useful labours. He 
is -aid to have been a prey to dejection of spirits, as was also hi3 
relative, John Craighead, the pastor of Rocky Spring, Pennsyl- 
vania. 

The first numerous settlement t between the Yadkin and Ca- 
tawba was three miles north of Charlotte. In 17."><>, there were no 
white inhabitants; but they poured in BO rapidly that, in 1 7 -"> • > , the 
church on Sugar Creek was formed. Here was Craighead's home, 
and his burial-place: no stone marks his grave; but it is known by 
two large sassafras-trees, which grew, it is said, from the sticks 
being thrust into the ground, on which his coffin was borne to the 

II - -'.n Thomas became a minister of our church in Tennessee, 
and rose to high standing. His third daughter married the Rev. 
David Caldwell, of Buffalo and Allemance. Her son, Samuel 

Craighead Caldwell, was licensed at nineteen years of age, and 
Ordained pastor of Hop. •well and Sugar Creek in 17'. | L > . His har- 
monious continuance id thai relation for thirty-five years is his 
Bulogium. At one time, seventy were added to the church. 
I ! in 1826. Two of hi- -"ii- are in the ministry. 



* Rer. Samuel Brown, of Windy Cove. 
t Dr. Footed Bketehei of North I 



438 JOHN PAUL — PATRICK GLASCOW — SAMUEL BLACK. 



JOHN PAUL 

Was received by the standing committee of Donegal Presbytery 
as a licentiate from Ireland, December 10, 1735, and was soon after 
called to Nottingham. Thomson "served his edict," and he was 
installed the second Wednesday of October, 1736. 

He preached at the ordination of David Alexander, at Pequea, 
in 1738, and was one of the first supplies sent to Deer Creek, 
Maryland. He died in 1739; and in June the commission remitted 
his bond for twelve pounds, and, the next year, gave his widow one 
pound out of the fund. 

His tomb remains in the old graveyard near the Rising Sun: 
the inscription, nearly obliterated, tells that he died at the age of 
thirty-three. 



PATRICK GLASCOW, 

After the ordinary trials, and after adopting the Westminster 
Confession, was licensed by Lewes Presbytery. Having a call to 
Monokin, he was, after the usual steps, and a repeated declaration 
of his adopting the Westminster Confession, ordained and installed 
in 1736. 

He is not mentioned after 1741 on our records : he was or- 
dained after the Episcopal mode, and became the rector of All-Hal- 
lows, in Worcester county, Maryland. He died there, March 
23, 1753. 



SAMUEL BLACK, 

A student of theology, from Ireland, was licensed by New- 
castle Presbytery. The Forks of Brandywine, in Chester county, 
were formed into a separate congregation. In September, 1735, 
Donegal Presbytery gave them leave to invite Black to preach as a 



SAMUEL BLACK. 439 

candidate for settlement. He was called, October 7, and was or- 
dained, November 18, 1735. Boyd preached from 2 Timothy ii. 15. 
A portion of his people preferred complaints against him, Septem- 
ber 2, 1740, and requested the presbytery to call, as correspondents, 
Charles Tennent and Samuel Blair, when they took up the case. 
This was just at the time of the extraordinary effects produced by 
the preaching of Whitefield. The presbytery, in writing to Newcas- 
tle Presbytery for correspondents, requested the moderator that 
any of the members might be sent to their aid but Blair and Ten- 
nent, — alleging that the congregation, in asking for them, evinced a 
desire to choose their own judges. 

Black was put on trial November 4, to answer the charges — 

1. Of saying, "He sought not theirs, but them," while he did 
not seek their salvation. 

■1. I tf representing himself as weary through much labour in the 
ministry, while he did not toil in the vineyard. 

8. < n drunkenness. 

4. Of lying, in speaking of the Revival at different times in dif- 
ferent ways. 

5. of sedition, in sowing dissensions among the people. 

6. Of making no application of the truth to the states or cases 
of his hearers. 

7. For opposing the work of God then in progress in neighbour- 
ing congregations. 

Th-- presbytery rebuked him for the drunkenness, and for slight- 
ing his work: he acknowledged his fault, ami they laid no censure 
on him at the time. In May, they suspended him for a season, 
tin- people complaining that much evidence had been industriously 
kept back nt the trial. The presbytery very soon after made 
inquiry on the spot, and restored him: the majority of his people 
following the •• Brunswick Brethren," they released him from the 
pastoral relation. 

The new congregation of Oonewago, in Mouni Joy, (in Adams 
county,) Pennsylvania, called him in October, 17 11, and he was in- 
stalled tin.- Becond Wednesday in .May. He began to visit Vir- 
ginia a- a missionary, and was sent to Potomac in 171'!. Diffi- 
culties arose in his flock, and they asked t<> have Steel sent to 

them. 
North and South Mountain, in Virginia, (the former six miles 
f Btaunton,) asked for him, Marco i>, \~i\-~>. He was dis- 
missed from OonewagO in April; hut in the fall they BOUghi to re- 
gain him. A division took place: those who left him obtained 

one-fifth of the t in, pastor of the- New-Side churchc- of 

Paxton and Derry. 

In 17 17. he, \sitli Thomson and Craig, was directed to take the 

oversight of the i in Virginia. Be wu at the synod in 



440 FRANCIS ALISON. 

1751, and was directed to supply Buffalo settlement, and the adja- 
cent places, four Sabbaths; he also visited Hies, Eno, and Haw 
Kiver, in North Carolina. 

He took charge of the congregations of Rockfish and Mountain 
Plain before 1752. In 1759, he attended synod, and vainly 
sought to have a presbytery formed west of the Blue Ridge. 

Hanover Presbytery decided that the people in Woods's Gap, in 
the mountains of Albemarle, were not in his bounds, and erected 
them into the congregation of Albemarle. They dismissed him 
from his charge, July 18, 1759. 

He died August 9, 1770. The presbytery style him " an aged 
minister." 



FRANCIS ALISON, 

Born in Ireland, in 1705, studied at the University of Glas- 
gow, and came as a probationer to this country in 1734 or '35. 

On the recommendation of Franklin,* he was employed by 
John Dickinson, of Delaware, the author of the " Farmer's Let- 
ters," as the tutor of his son. Leave to take a few other pupils 
was granted; and he is said to have had an academy at Thunder 
Hill, Maryland.f 

The commission, in 1736, wrote to him to officiate as a supply 
for the new erection in Philadelphia. He was ordained pastor of 
New London by Newcastle Presbytery before May, 1737. 

He was a correspondent of President Stiles, who has preserved 
many of his letters. He says, he commenced his school in 1743; 
and Professor Hutcheson, of Glasgow, having, in 1746, advised 
the setting on foot of a seminary by the synod, he also opened a 
correspondence with him. The synod, failing in their attempt to 
endow a college, did what was in their power, and took the New 
London school under their patronage. They gave Alison twenty 
pounds, (Pennsylvania currency,) with the liberty of choosing an 
assistant at a salary of fifteen pounds. In 1748, the salaries 
were raised ; one to forty pounds, and the other to twenty pounds. 

Alison complained to Donegal Presbytery, that Alexander 
Craighead had intruded into his congregation, " to rend and 
divide it against his mind, the mind of the session, and the de- 
clared opinion of the congregation in general." 

* Joshua Edwards, Esq. f Watson's Annals of Philadelphia. 



FRANCIS ALISON. 441 

He signed the Protest ; l»ut he agreed with the Xew York bre- 
thren in demanding that the whole proceeding should be reviewed 
in 1742; and he entered his dissent from the vote refusing this 
request. Though foremost on the Old Side, it does not appear 
that any of his congregation deserted him. In 1744,* they 
erected the largest church in that region. The building was 
sixty-three feet long by thirty-eight wide, with long, low, brick 
walls, an antique, Swedish, or hipped roof. The side of the edifice 
Was turned to the road; and it had arched doors and windows, 
with imported leaden sashes. The pulpit was on the side; and the 
pews were of forms, patterns, and colours as diverse as the tastes 
and the incomes of their respective owners. 

In 1749, he was invited to Philadelphia, a grammar-school 
having been opened in that city by subscription. He asked leave 
of the synod to sit as a member of Philadelphia Presbytery: they 
declined, and promised him thirty pounds for educating their 
beneficiaries, with liberty to charge at his pleasure for the tuition 
of others. The grammar-school in Philadelphia was incorporated 
in 1750, endowed in 1753, and erected into a college in 1755i 
Alison K-1't .New London before May, ll'rl, without consulting 
presbytery or Bynod; but this was excused, owing to the pressing 
circumstances of his position, lie took charge of the grammar? 
school, and became colleague to Cross. Among his elders who 

sat with him in synod were the Hon. Charles Thomson and Mr. 
William Humphreys. 

He was made vice-provost of the college in 1755; and Nassau 
Hall gave him the degree of A.M. in 1756, and the University 

of Glasgow Created him doctor of divinity in 17~>"I. lie was the 

first of our ministers who received that honour; and the Synod of 
Philadelphia returned their thanks, for the favour, to the I'ni- 
vei-i- 

< )u the union of the synod-, May 24, 1758, he preached from 

Eph. iv. 1-7. 'I'h' 1 sermon was published, with the title, •• Peace 

and [Joins recommend. -d," and a note, suggesting that, as in the 

perusal it might to many -<em Long, they may conveniently divide 
it by pausing ;it the twenty-eighth page. 

lb- Went, with Colonel Bind, a- chaplain to the expedition to 

i Cumberland, and remained from August to November. 

Together with Gilbert Tenneiit and the l'roliyterians gene- 
rally, who were headed by Chief-Justice Allen, (father-in-law of 
nor .John l'eim,i he opposed the throwing off of the Pro- 



■ Duboit'i Btttorleal M one at New London. 

\ The diploma wai transmitted to him through flu Bev. Jamei M |y, of 

Newry. — PhUadtlphia .V. h j-ijT. 



442 FRANCIS ALISON. 

prietary Government; and, as a reward* for his services in that 
matter, Richard Penn gave Alison the splendid tract of one thou- 
sand acres at the confluence of the Bald Eagle with the West 
Branch of the Susquehanna. 

He was the efficient agent in the establishment of the Widows 
Fund in our church; and was wisely active in the convention with 
the Connecticut ministers to withstand the gradual but determined 
innovations of Churchmen and the Crown on our liberties as citi 
zens and Christians. 

Among his correspondentsf were Dr. Gordon, of Stepney, 
England ; William Boyd, minister of Taughboyne, in Ireland, (who 
visited New England in 1718,) and John Holmes, of Glendermot, 
both able and zealous advocates for the subscription of the West- 
minster Confession ; and James Moody, of Newry, who differed 
with them on that point. 

Alison was so much pleased with Connecticut that at one time 
he thought of making it the retreat of his old age. Probably 
some hint of this induced the people of New London, who had 
remained vacant since his removal, to send Elijah McClenachan 
and William Montgomery as commissioners to the Second Phila- 
delphia Presbytery, with a call for him, August 14, 1765. He 
took it under consideration, and returned it, November 26, 1766. 

Although his family could ill afford it, he set free his slaves by 
will: "the good manf followed the dictates of his conscience, 
leaving his widow to Providence." 

He died, November 28, 1779, aged seventy-four. His wife was 
an Armitage. He left a son (a physician, at Fagg's Manor) and 
two daughters: one of his sons died before him, at the age of 
twenty-eight. 

Among his pupils were Charles Thomson, Secretary of the 
Continental Congress, Dr. Ewing, of Philadelphia, Dr. Latta, of 
Chestnut Level, Matthew Wilson, of Lewes, Hugh Williamson, 
and David Ramsay, the historian of North and South Carolina, 
and three signers of the Declaration of Independence, — Governor 
McKean, George Read, and James Smith. He had the reputa- 
tion§ of being the best Latin scholar in America. Bishop White 
was one of his pupils, and, in his "Memoirs," speaks of him as a 
man of unquestionable ability in his department, of real and 



* Day's Historical Collections of Pennsylvania. But Judge Huston says that 
the lands of the West Branch were laid out for officers of first and second bat- 
talions of regiment under Colonel Boquet. Fifteen hundred acres on west side of 
the mouth of Bald Eagle were conveyed to Dr. Alison, February 4, 17G9, and were 
paid for in full, April 3, 1772. — Land Titles. 

f Stiles's MSS., Yale College. 

+ Philadelphia Newspaper. 

| Morgan Edwards. 



DAVID COWELL. 443 

rational piety; with a proneness to anger, which was forgotten in 
his placableness and affability. Davies speaks of him to CoweU 
a3 "our learned friend." 



DAVID COWELL 



Was born in Dorchester, Massachusetts, in 1704, graduated at 
Harvard in \~'-'>2, and came as a licentiate to Trenton, N.J. , in IT-"'.'!. 

Trenton, which had formed a part of Hopewell, asked Phila- 
delphia Presbytery, in September, 1734, to provide them a 
minister. In the next fall, CoweU began his labours there. On 
his receiving a call,* the presbytery examined him on his religious 
principles and BentamentS, heard him preach from Rom. iii. 25, 
and, after a sermon by Andrews, ordained him, November 3, 
1786. 

A debate was maintained between him and Gilbert Tennent on 
a most important matter: namely, "Whether a motive, to which 
the natural man is susceptible, a regard to what he sees to be on 
the whole most for his interest, is acceptable with God when it 
leads one to embrace Christ's salvation and God's service? 
CoweU disclaimed the affirmative, which Tennent charged him 
with holding, and probably was equally unwilling to admit that 
our obedience to God is worthless if we be iniluenced by a desire 
for our own salvation as well as the glory of God. 

lie took no part at the division in 1741; but he was fully op- 
| :■> the extreme measures of the Brunswick party. ]!<• re- 

mained with tin- Old Side; but his intercourse with the New York 
brethren, and his intimate friendship with Burr, was not inter- 
rupt. -1. 

In 1749, the commissions of both synods met at Trenton, to 
treat about a anion. Oowell was chosen moderator; but, m heated 
discussion arising about the Protest) they broke up, unanimously 
agreeing thai each synod more rally prepare proposals of recon- 
ciliation, and that there I"- in the mean time a mutual endeavour 
to cultivate eandonr and friendship* 

Be was an early, an ardent, and an indefatigable friend of New 

and unwearied in his efforts t<> place Davies in 

the presidency. II'' wrote t>> him,*} "Tin.- college ought i<> be 

♦ \< i im in the hand! of Mr. .1. v <• iwelL 

f 1188. in the I I of Philadalphiai I 



444 DAVID COWELL. 

esteemed of as much importance to the interests of religion and 
liberty as any other institution of the kind in America. God at 
first, in a most remarkable manner, owned and blessed it. It 
was the Lord's doing. He erected it; for our beginning was 
nothing. He carried it on, till it was marvellous in our eyes. 
But it hath been under terrible frowns of Divine Providence: 
first, in the loss of Mr. Burr, the life and soul of it ; and then of 
Mr. Edwards, from whom we had such raised expectations. May 
the Father of mercies look with pity and compassion on the work 
of his own hands ! I am sensible that your leaving Virginia is 
attended with great difficulties ; but I cannot think your affairs are 
of equal importance with the college." 

Upon the union, he joined New Brunswick Presbytery, June 3, 
1758 ; and, the next year, Trenton asked for supplies. He died, 
December 1, 1760, having never married. Davies preached at his 
funeral — himself so soon to follow — from Heb. iv. 11, having been 
" nominated by him to that service." 

" During* the short time I have been a resident of this pro- 
vince, he has been my very intimate friend ; and I have conversed 
with him in his most unreserved hours, when conversation was the 
image of his soul. I had only a general acquaintance with him 
for ten years before. 

" The characteristics of his youth were a serious, virtuous, re- 
ligious turn of mind, free from the vices and vanities of that 
thoughtless age ; and a remarkable thirst for knowledge : and I 
am witness how lively a taste for books and knowledge he 
cherished to the last. He appeared to me to have a mind 
steadily and habitually bent towards God and holiness. If his 
religion was not so warm and passionate as that of some, it was 
perhaps proportionally more even, uniform, and rational. His 
religion was not a transient passion, but appeared to be a settled 
temper. Humility and modesty, those gentle virtues, seemed to 
shine in him with a very amiable lustre. He often imposed a 
voluntary silence upon himself, when he would have made an 
agreeable figure in conversation. He was fond of giving way to 
his brethren with whom he might justly have claimed an equality, 
or to encourage modest worth in his inferiors. He was not im- 
pudently liberal of unasked advice, though very judicious, impar- 
tial, and communicative when consulted. He had an easy, grace- 
ful negligence in his carriage, — a noble indifference about setting 
himself off; he seemed not to know his own accomplishments, 
though they were so conspicuous that many a man has made a 



relied upon his skill as a physician, and requested his presence when the students 
had been inoculated for the smallpox. 
* MS. Sermon of Davies. 



DAVID COWELL. 445 

brilliant appearance "with a small share of them. He had a re- 
markable command of his passions ; he appeared calm and un- 
ruffled amid the storms of the world, — peaceful and serene amid 
the commotions and uproar of human passions. Remarkably 
cautious and deliberate, slow to determine, and especially to 
censure, he waa well guarded against extremes. In matters of 
debate, and especially in religious controversy, he was rather a 
moderator and compromiser than a party. Though he could not 
be neuter, but judged for himself to direct his own conduct, he 
could exercise candour and forbearance without constraint or re- 
luctance; when he happened to differ in opinion from any of his 
brethren, even themselves could not but acknowledge and admire 
his moderation. 

" His accomplishments, as a man of sense and learning, were 
very considerable. His judgment was cool, deliberate, and pene- 
trating; his sentiments were well digested, and his taste excellent. 
1 read not a few of the best modern authors, and was no 
stranger to ancient literature. He could think as well as read ; 
and the knowledge he collected from books was well digested, and 
became his own. lie had carefully studied the Sacred Scriptures, 
and had a rational theory of the Christian system. 

"He had an easy, natural vein of wit, which rendered his con- 
ion extremely agreeable: he sometimes used it with great 
dexterity to expose the rake, the fop, the infidel, and other fools 
of the human species ; it was sacred to the service of virtue, or 
innocently volatile and lively, to heighten the pleasures of con- 
versation. 

"He was a lover of mankind, and delighted in every office 
of benevolence. Benevolence appeared to be his predominant 

Virtue, and gave a most amiable cast to his whole temper and 

conduct. 

•■ That he might be able to support himself without oppressing 
a BmalJ congregation, In- gave Some pari of his time to the study 

ami practice of physic; in which In- made no inconsiderable figure. 

A friend of the poor, he Bpared neither time nor expense to relieve 

them. 

•• I never had the happiness to hear iiim iii the sacred desk. 

In prayer, I am sure, he appeared humble, solemn, rational, and 

importunate, a- a creature, — a sinner in the presence of God. 

'•In the charier of the College of Nem Jersey, he was nomi- 
nated one of the trustees; ami hut few invested with the same 
trust discharged it with so much zeal, diligence, and alacrity. 
: upon hi- prosperity; he exerted himself in this 
service, nor did he forget it in his last moments. 

"The church has lost a judicious minister, and, a- we hope, a 
sincere Christian; the- world has Lost an inoffensive, useful mem- 



446 CHARLES TENNENT. 

ber of society, this town an agreeable, peaceable, benevolent 
inhabitant, the College of New Jersey a father; and I have lost 
a friend." 



CHARLES TENNENT. 



The youngest child of Tennent, of Neshaminy, was born in the 
county Down, May 3, 1711, and was baptized by the Rev. Richard 
Donnell. He is said* to have learned the trade of a saddler. After 
studying with his father, he was taken on trials by Philadelphia 
Presbytery in May, 1736 ; in June, at Neshaminy, he was examined 
on the evidences of his piety, and was licensed Sept. 20. He was 
called, April 6, 1737, to Pilesgrove and vicinity ; but the call was 
not put into his hands. He soon after was ordained, by Newcastle 
Presbytery, the pastor of Whiteclay. 

In November, 1739, f Whitefield assisted him at the sacrament ; he 
preached from the tent to eight thousand persons. Among the 
hearers was Mrs. Douglass, the sister of Charles Thomson, Secre- 
tary to Congress, and the grandmother of the Rev. James W. 
Douglass, of Fayetteville. She describes Whitefield as bathed in 
tears during nearly all the service. It was a glorious day. The 
effect was happy and extensive. To his delight, he found there a 
family named Howell, who had heard him at Cardiff and Kings- 
wood. In the following year he was there on a like occasion ; some 
opposers being present, Whitefield felt peculiar pleasure in singing 
the 23d Psalm :— 

"My table thou hast furnished, 
In presence of my foes ; 
My head thou dost with oil anoint, 
And my cup overflows." 

A separation took place in the congregation : the Old Side joined 
with Elk River. On the union of the synods, some of the most 
zealous friends of the Revival forsook Tennent and went over to the 
Seceders, being unable to understand how it could be right to enter 
into fellowship with those they had been taught to regard as heart- 
enemies to the power of religion. " Shouldest thou help the un- 
godly, and love them that hate the Lord? therefore is wrath upon 
thee from before the Lord." Tennent was dismissed from his 
charge in 1763, and settled at Buckingham, now Berlin, on the 

* Letter of a Covenanting Presbyterian. 
j- Log College, Whitefield' s Journal. 



AARON BURR. 4-47 

Eastern Shore of Maryland. "There was a great stir about reli- 
gion,*' said Da vies, in 1751, "some four years ago in Buckingham, 
on the sea-shore, and a place called the Ferry, which were then 
without a minister." 

Of his success there little is known ; he was involved in difficul- 
ties that threw a gloom over his closing days. He died in 1771. 
His son, the Rev. Win. M. Tennent, was licensed before his death: 
his granddaughter, Miss Stewart, died a few years ago, in advanced 
life. 

He is said to have been a good preacher, but high-spirited and 
hasty. L>uvies joins him with his brothers in high praise : — 

" Surviving remnant of the sacred tribe, 
Wliu knew the worth these plaintive lays describe, 
Tenneuts, three worthies of immortal tame, 
Brothers in office, birth, and heart, and name." 



AARON BURR 



Was the son* of Daniel Burr, of Upper Meadows, in Fairfield, 
Conn., a descendant of Jehu Burr, an early settler of Springfield) 
Mass., and <>f the Rev. Jonathan Burr, who came from Redgrave^ 
in Suffolk, in 1604, and was the minister of Dorchester, Mass. 
Aaron was born Jan. 4, 1715-6, and was baptized March 4. lie 
graduated at Yale in 1785. 

The year afterf he took his first degree, he spent in the college: 
and it is supposed that he then met with a saving change of heart, 
and became not only almost, bul altogether, a Christian. The re- 
lation of this important event 1 have extracted out of his private 
. and .-hall give you his own words, as follows: — 

••This year God -aw fit tb open my eyes, and Bhow me what a 

miserable creature 1 was. Till then, 1 Bpent my life in a dream; 
and, to the great design of my being, had lived in vain. Though 
before I had been under frequent convictions, and was drove to a 
form of religion, yet I knew nothing as I ought to know. But 
thru I was brought to the footstool of sovereign grace; saw myself 
polluted by oature and practice; had affecting views of the divine 
I ; was made to despair of help in myself, and 
almosl concluded that my day of grace had passed. These convic- 
tions held for Bome montns, greater at some seasons than at others ; 

• 118. Utter tft N. <; Iwin, B*q., Hartford. 

| Poncnl Sermon, bj Rot. ('.duo .SwitL. 



448 AARON BURR. 

but I never revealed them to any, which I have much lamented 
since. It pleased God at length to reveal his Son to me in the gos- 
pel, an all-sufficient and willing Saviour, and, I hope, inclined me 
to accept him on the terms of the gospel. I received some conso- 
lation, and found a great change in myself. Before this, I was 
strongly attached to the Arminian scheme, but then was made to 
see those things in a different light, and seemingly felt the truth of 
the Calvinian doctrines."' 

He was licensed in September, 1736, and preached his first ser- 
mon at Greenfield, Mass. While laboring at Hanover, N.J., he 
was invited to Newark ; he was received by all with great regard ; 
"much love was shown to him," and, coming in "a day of tempta- 
tion and darkness," in the fulness of the blessing of the gospel, 
the aspect brightened and all around beamed with peace. Within 
two months after beginning to preach, he went to Newark, and, full 
trial being made of his gifts, he was ordained by the Presbytery 
of East Jersey, Oct. 25, 1737-8. Pierson preached, and Dickin- 
son presided and gave the charge. 

"There* was a remarkable revival there in the autumn of 
1739 : in March, the whole town in general was brought under an 
uncommon concern about their eternal interests ; and under some 
sermons the congregation appeared universally affected. In Feb- 
ruary, 1741, there was another effusion of the Holy Spirit, princi- 
pally upon the young. "When Whitefield preached at Newark, it 
was nearly dark, and he could not see the effect produced ; but at 
night, at worship in Burr's house, some young men, studying with 
him, were greatly affected." Whitefield speaks of him as a young 
minister, "who, I trust, will come fairly out for God." 

In the divisions at New Haven, f growing out of the progress of 
the Revival, it was proposed in June, 1742, as a measure likely to 
satisfy all parties, that Burr should be settled in the First Church ; 
and a committee, with the rector of Yale at its head, was appointed 
to treat with him. 

The enemy sowed tares at Newark : there sprang up a spirit of 
arrogance and censoriousness in some of the converts ; strange no- 
tions concerning assurance and the witness of the Spirit, were em- 
braced ; and the great excitement about the ejectment suits, involv- 
ing the property and the homes of nearly every one, and the land- 
riots, sunk divine things out of notice. 

The College of New Jersey was, on the death of Dickinson, re- 
moved in 1747 to Newark, and Burr was placed at the head. He 
accompanied Whitefield through New England in 1752, and visited 
Edwards. Having seen his daughter Esther, he wrote expressing 



* Dickinson, in Christian History, 
f Bacon. 



AARON BURR. 449 

his desire that, as he was unaUe to go to her, she would come to 
him. Her mother accompanied her to New York, where they were 
married June 29, 1752. 

In 1755, his pastoral relation was dissolved, as it was thought 
best to establish the college in Princeton. Much urgency had been 
used to prevail on him to go to Great Britain in its behalf, but his 
marriage prompted him to decline. It grieved him to see the stu- 
dents banded in parties, and exhibiting much alienation of feeling : 
there was in a degree a reconciliation effected in the winter of 1757, 
and it was followed by a gracious revival. The hand of God was 
visibly displayed in February, 1757; "much old experience" had 
taught Burr to place little reliance on relations of experience. The 
students carefully observed his cautions about giving way to irre- 
gular heats, and silenced the gainsayers. Finley wrote to Davies 
an account of the good work, who said, " It was the most joyful 
news I ever heard. It began with the son of a considerable gen- 
tleman in New York, and was general before the President knew 
of it." "The President," said Gilbert Tennent, "never shone in 
my eyes as he dues now. His good judgment and humility, his 
zeal and integrity, greatly endeared him to me." Spencer had seen 
nothing mure evidently like a work of God, even in the Great Re- 
vival. The first Tuesday in April was observed as a day of fast- 
ing and prayer. In the summer there were some backslidings ; 
"but," said Burr, "certainly a glorious work is going on." 

In the summer,* being in a low state of health, he made a rapid 
and exhausting visit, in a very hot, sultry season, to his father-in- 
law at Btookbridge. lie Boon returned to Princeton, and went im- 
mediately to Elizabethtown, and, on the 19th of August, made an 
attempt to procure the legal exemption of the students from mili- 
tary duty. II«' mourned with a friend, (probably Caleb Smith, of 
Orange, who bad just Lost his wife;) and on the 21st, being much 
indisposed, he preached an extemporaneous sermon at a funeral in 
In, Buccessor'e (Bey. John Brainerd's) family at Newark;. From 
Princeton be wenl to Philadelphia on business of the college, and on 
his return learned that Governor Belcher had died on the 31st. He 
prepared the sermon for bis funeral under a bigh fever, and at 
night was delirious. He rode to Elizabethtown, and, on the 4th, 

f (reached, being in a Btate of extreme languor and exhaustion. I lis 
anguoc of countenance was noticed, bui especially the failure of 
his harmonious delivery. Returning home next day, be sunk under 
nervous fever, and died Sept. 24, L757. The Rev. Caleb Smith 
preached lii^ funeral Bermon. William Livingston, afterwards 
nor of New Jersey . pronounced ins eulogium. It was printed 
in New York, and speedily reprinted in Boston. The following i- 
given as a specimen : — 

* Hev. Culot. Smith. 



450 AARON BURR. 

" To have all the qualifications that render a man amiable or 
great ; to be the object of delight wherever one is known ; to pos- 
sess learning, genius, and sublimity of soul : can there be born a 
greater blessing to the world ? To exert these shining endowments 
for the benefit of mankind, and employ a great and elevated spirit 
only in doing good and diffusing good : can a nobler use be made 
of the happiest talents ? Amidst such striking colours, in such a 
degenerate age, who can mistake the picture of the excellent de- 
ceased? Can you image to yourself a person, moderate in pros- 
perity, prudent in difficulty, in business indefatigable, magnanimous 
in danger, easy in his manners, of exquisite judgment, of profound 
learning, catholic in sentiment, of the purest morals, and great 
even in the minutest things : can you image so accomplished a per- 
son without recollecting the idea of the late President Burr ? Few 
were more perfect in the art of rendering themselves agreeable in 
company. His open, benevolent, undissembling heart inspired all 
around him with innocent cheerfulness, and made every one who 
knew him court his engaging society. Though a person of slender 
and delicate make, to encounter fatigue he had a heart of steel, 
and, for the despatch of business, the most amazing talents joined 
to a constancy of mind which induced success in spite of every ob- 
stacle. As long as an enterprise appeared not absolutely impos- 
sible, he knew no discouragement, but in proportion to its difficulty 
augmented his diligence, and by an insuperable fortitude often ac- 
complished what his friends conceived utterly impossible. To his 
unparalleled assiduity, next to the divine blessing, is doubtless to 
be ascribed the present flourishing state of the College of New Jer- 
sey, which, from a mere private undertaking, is become in a few 
years the joy of its friends, the admiration and envy of its ene- 
mies. 

" He was life and activity itself, and, though cut off in the bloom 
and vigour of his years, attained, with respect to his public utility, 
the remotest period of old age. His every year was replete with 
good works, and while others could boast here and there a shining 
action, like a scattered star in the vast expanse of heaven, his life, 
like the milky way, was one continued universal glow. 

" In the Scriptures he was a perfect Apollos. These were his 
constant study, the subject of his daily meditations. From these 
he extracted his divinity, and the maxims of his conduct, and by 
these he was made wise unto salvation. His piety eclipsed all his 
other accomplishments. He was steady in his faith, unfluctuating 
in principle, ardent in devotion, deaf to temptation, open to the 
motions of grace, without ostentation, without pride, full of God, 
evacuated of self, having his conversation in heaven, seeing through 
the veil of mortality the high destiny of man, breathing a spiritual 
life, and offering up a perpetual holocaust of adoration and praise. 



AARON BURR. 451 

"In the pulpit he shone with superior lustre. He was fluent, 
copious, sublime, persuasive. The momentous truths and the awful 
mysteries of religion so strongly possessed the mind, that he spoke 
from the heart. His language was intelligible to the meanest ca- 
pacity, and above the censure of the highest genius. He aimed at 
perspicuity, and inculcated the luminous and uncontroverted truths 
of Revelation. His invention was not so properly fruitful as inex- 
haustible, anil his eloquence was equal to his ideas. He was none 
of those downy doctors who soothe their hearers into delusive hopes 
of tbe divine acceptance, or substitute external morality for vital 
godliness. He scorned to proclaim the peace of God till the rebel 
had laid down his arms and returned to his allegiance. He was 
an ambassador that adhered inviolably to his instructions, nor ever 
acceded to a treaty that would not be ratified in the court of Hea- 
ven. He searched the conscience with the terrors of the law, before 
ssuaged its anguish with the sweet emollients of a bleeding 
Heity. 

*• What he preached in the pulpit he lived out of it. His life and 
his example were a comment on his sermons, and by his engaging 
deportment lie rendered the amiable character of the Christian still 
more lovely and attractive. In him religion seemed to have set up 
her throne, and, as it were, donbled the beams of her majesty The 
pastoral function he discharged with equal fidelity and success. 

•• Pot public spirit and love of his country, who ever surpassed 
this reverend patriot? Amid all the cares of his academic func- 
tion, he thought and studied, he planned and toiled, for the common 
weal. He had a high sense of English liberty, ami detested des- 
potie power ai the baneof human happiness. With him the heresy 
of Arias was not more fatal to the purity of the gospel than the 
positions of Pilmer to the dignity of man and the repose of states. 
Of OW excellent Constitution he entertained the justest idea, ami 
gloried in the privileges of a Briton. 

•• In propagating the gospel among the Indians, how assiduous! 

'•With what dignity and reputation did ho sustain the office of 

President! He had the most moving method of instruetion j nor 

inferior to his capacity of receiving was his facility of eommnni- 

Cating knowledge a No man had a happier talent of expressing 

atiments, or calling latent truth from her deep ami profound 
No man more capable of opening the mental soil to the 
kindly raya of science, or improving and fertilizing it with the 
gentle dews of exposition and comment. lb' neglected no oppor- 
tunity of imbuing his pupils with the Seeds "1' virtue. With ease 

nred their obedience and I 
Davies heard him preach a valedictory sermon, Sept. 28, 17 I, 

to the graduating OWeS. "Hie SUbjeOl was, 'And now, my son, 

the Lord be with thee, and prosper thee.' 1 was amased i" see 



152 AARON BURR. 

how readily good sense and accurate language flowed from him ex- 
tempore. The sermon was very affecting to me, and might have 
been so to the students. 

" Sept. 24. — My drooping spirits were exhilarated by free conver- 
sation with him." 

He printed his sermon before the synod in 1756, on Isa. xxi. 
11, 12 ; also a "Vindication of the Supreme Divinity of the Son of 
God," in opposition to Emlyn ; and also a Latin Grammar. 

He left two very young children, who were soon deprived of their 
mother,* and their grandparents also. The son, like his father in 
form, in face, in talent, in energy, in eloquence, in polished and 
engaging manner, in his influence over men, rose to the Vice-Presi- 
dency in 1800. Oh that such a father might have lived to train 
such a son ! alas, that a son of such a father should have lived to old 
age with the heartlessness of a profligate and the brand of a traitor ! 

The daughter was the wife of Judge Reeve, of Litchfield, Connec- 
ticut, and was a follower of her parents, as they followed Christ. 

Davies wrote to Cowell, Feb. 20, 1758, "Mr. Burr! My heart 
fails me at the sound of the dear, melancholy name. "What an illus- 
trious triumvirate have the college, the church, and the world lost 
by the death of Governor Belcher, Mr. Burr, and Mr. Davenport. 
I was the more affected at the President's death, as a life so much 
less important than his was spared when in extreme danger about 
the time of his illness. Since that, I have had frequent touches 
of affliction, under one of which I now languish, but, having ob- 
tained help of God, I continue unto this day. 

"As the death of these good men was undoubtedly gain to them, 
may we not modestly conjecture that it will also prove an advan- 
tage to the world, though we are apt to lament them as lost? I 
cannot conceive of heaven as a state of mere enjoyment without 
action, or indolent supine adoration and praise. The happiness of 
vigorous immortals must consist, one would think, in proper exer- 
cise suitable to the benevolence of their hearts and the extent of their 
powers. May we not suppose, then, that such devout and benevo- 
lent souls as these, when released from the confinement of mor- 
tality, and the low labour of the present life, are not only advanced 
to superior degrees of happiness, but placed in a higher sphere of 
usefulness, employed as ministers of Providence not to this or that 
particular church, college, or colony, but to a more extensive charge, 
and perhaps to a more important class of beings. And if, when they 
cease to be useful men, they commence angels, i. e. ministering spirits, 
we may congratulate them and the world upon this more extensive 
beneficence, instead of lamenting them as lost to all usefulness." 

* Mrs. Burr died of smallpox, April 7, 1758, aged twenty-six. Her father died 
at her house, a fortnight previously, March 22 ; her mother died on the 2d of the 
next October. 



WALTER WILMOT — DAVID ALEXANDER. 453 



WALTER WILMOT 

Was born at Southampton, Long Island, in 1700, and graduated 
at Yule in 1735. He waa ordained pastor at Jamaica, April 1:2, 
1738. Pemberton preached from Colossians i. 7, and Dickinson 
led, and delivered a discourse on "The Divine Appointment 
of the Christian Ministry, and the Method of its Conveyance." 
This, with the charge which he gave to the people, was printed. 

His wife died ut the age of twenty-three. Prime preached at her 
funeral from Ezekiel xxiv. 16. The sermon was printed wdth her 
journal of her religions exercises. 

In the Great Revival, Jamaica was favoured highly; AVhitefield 
preached there, and Gilbert Tenncnt, on his way to Boston, in the 
winter of 1740. ''Our church," says Mr. Colgan to the Vene- 
rable Society, "has been depressed of late by those clouds of error 
and enthusiasm. Enthusiasm has of late been very predominant 
among us." 

Wilmot did not survive his wife and his babe many months. He 
was taken sick in the evening of the 15th of July, 1741, and died 
on the 6th of August, lie was greatly beloved by his people. 



DAVID ALEXANDER. 



Ai.KXAxi>Ku Davidson, b commissioner from Pequea, asked leave 
of Donegal Presbytery, in November, L786, to employ Alexander, 
wliM probably bad lately arrived from Ireland, lie may have been 
educated at the Log College, and licensed by Newoaetle Presby- 
tery, lb' was at "Pacque" the uezl spring, but the West End | [Lea- 
bock) deeired Leave to build. In August, no call having been made 

OUt, Boyd was directed to convene the omgregat it ■ i"i 08 a working- 
day. A call was j.ic-.-ut •■• I in I tatober, bttt, UOl being entirely iii 

order, was ool given t'» bun. In April, L7S8, the people promised 
him, in addition, one year's lodgings; and be was ordained and in* 
stalled i .i presiding and preaching. 

The Wesl End (Leaoock) petitioned that a portion of his time 
might be given to diem. At length, in 1741, jusl before the nip- 
ton-, Leacock was declared by the synod entitled to all the privi- 
:' any vacant congregation. 



454 JOHN ELDER. 

Alexander let no man outstrip him in his violation of all rules 
in his treatment of those whom he esteemed "opposers of the 
work." He intruded into Black's congregation to carry the gospel 
to a people burdened with a lifeless ministry. When* called, in 
October, 1740, to answer for his neglect to attend the stated meet- 
ings, he excused himself on account of his bodily weakness, and 
because the presbytery were too superficial in examining candi- 
dates, and opposed the work of God, and the ministers chiefly in- 
strumental in carrying it on ; and also because they opposed the 
crying out during sermons. He withdrew, and refused to answer 
a citation for intruding into Black's field. 

The presbytery met at his church to consider a charge against 
him of intoxication. He took the pulpit and preached. He 
acknowledged the intoxication at a funeral, and the presbytery 
judged it not so heinous as had been represented ; but they sus- 
pended him till "satisfaction was given for his disregardful con- 
duct to us, and his refusal to submit to the government of Christ's 
church in our hands." Yet he was suffered to sit in the synod of 
1741, and he withdrew with the excluded brethren. The conjunct 
Presbyteries of New Brunswick and Newcastle appointed him, on 
account of " the necessity in the Great Valley," to supply there. 

From that time he passes out of sight. 



JOHN ELDER 



Was born in Scotland, and educated and probably licensed there. 
Paxton and Pennsborough, having obtained leave to apply to New- 
castle Presbytery for candidates, in August, 1737, Elder was sent the 
next month to those vacancies. The people of Paxton asked for 
him in November, and called him April 12; and he was ordained 
November 22, 1738, Black presiding. 

As the Great Revival spread, it entered Elder's bounds, and he 
was accused to the presbytery of preaching false doctrine: they 
cleared him, in December, 1740, but the separation was made soon 
after, and the conjunct presbyteries answered the supplications 
sent to them the next summer, by sending Campbell and Rowland 
to those who forsook him. He signed the Protest. His support 
being reduced, he took charge of the Old-Side portion of the Derry 

* MS. Records of Donegal Presbytery : quoted by Dr. Hodge. 



JOHN ELDER. 455 

congregation. In a few years after, Roan became the pastor of 
the New-Side congregations of Paxton and Derry, and on his 
death the two congregations united in receiving Elder as their 
minister. 

When associations for defence were formed throughout the pro- 
vince, his hearers, being on the frontier, were prompt to embody 
themselves: their minister was their captain, and they were trained 
H rangers. lie superintended their discipline, and hifl mounted 
men became widely known as the "Paxton Boys." He afterwards 
held a colonel's commission from the Proprietaries, and had the 
command of the block-houses and stockades from Easton to the 
Susquehanna. In tendering this appointment to him, it was* ex- 
pressly stated that nothing more would be expected of him that) 
the general oversight. Hifl justification lies in the crisis of affairs. 
Bay at York, and Steel at Conecocheague, and Griffith at New- 
castle, with Burton and Thompson, the Church missionaries at 
Lancaster and Carlisle, headed companies, and were actively en- 
gaged; for no one can conceive the dreadful state of uneasiness on 
the borders from 1750 to 1763. Many a family mourned for some 
of their Dumber shot by the secret foe, or carried away captive. 
Their rifles were carried with them to their work in the field, and 
to the sanctuary. Elder placed his trusty piece beside him in the 
pulpit. Death often overtook his Hock as they returned to their 
scattered plantations. In 1756, the meeting-house was surrounded 
while he was preaching; but, their Bpies having counted the rifles, 
the Indians retired from their ambuscade without making an 
attack. The next year, when leaving the meeting-house, they were 
mailed, and two OOr three weita killed. Friendly Indians would 
come and stay with them in the summer. Murders occurred in the 
fall, and the criminals could not be found, having, it was supposed, 

■ hiding-place among the Oonestogas. Blderf besought Governor 

Hamilton to remove them, because, although on the whole a hann- 

ibe, they harboured murderers. He engaged, September lo, 

1768, that, if this were done, he would secure the safety of tho 

frontier without expense to the provinoe. 
The proposal was sol accepted. A party of rangers determined 

to destroy the tribe, and they called ,,,, Blder, U one knowing tho 

;y of breaking up the den of miscreants, to had them on. 

They were ready to set oil": he W8S then in his lifty-s. -\ cut h year, 

and, mounting his hone, he commanded them to desist^ and re- 
minded them that they w. re about to destroy the iniiorent with the 

§nilty. They replied, "Can they b<- [nnocenl who harbour mur- 
eren pointed to instance! in which their wives and mo- 



. I! | i'l, Bl |. 

j Redmond Conj ogl 



456 JOHN ELDER. 

thers had been murdered and the destroyers traced to the homes 
of the Conestogas. He still entreated, and, at last, placing him- 
self in their road, declared that only by cutting him down they could 
advance. They then prepared to kill his horse, and he, seeing his 
efforts all fail, left them to take their course. They were chiefly, 
if not wholly, Presbyterians, from Paxton, Derry, Hanover, and 
Donegal; not all young men, but some of them of Elder's own 
age, their leader, Lazarus Stewart, having been a commissioner 
from Monada Creek in 1735. They did their errand thoroughly 
and mercilessly, destroying, in Conestoga and Lancaster, nearly 
every remnant of the Indian race. 

The Indians were removed from every exposed place to Phila- 
delphia, and the citizens apprehended the "Pextang" Boys would 
pursue them thither. The Governor published a proclamation, 
setting a reward on the heads of Stewart and others. Elder wrote 
to the Proprietary, January 27, 1764, " The storm which has been 
bo long gathering has at length exploded. Had Government re- 
moved the Indians, which had been frequently, but without success, 
urged, this painful catastrophe might have been avoided. What 
could I do with men heated to madness? All that I could do was 
done. I expostulated, but life and reason were set at defiance : 
yet the men in private life are virtuous and respectable ; not cruel, 
but mild and merciful. This deed, magnified into the blackest of 
crimes, shall come to be considered as one of those ebullitions of 
wrath caused by momentary excitements, to which human infirmity 
is subjected." His pay was suspended, and he promptly laid down 
his commission. 

Pamphlets without number, truth, or decency, poured like a tor- 
rent from the press. The Quakers took the pen to hold up the 
deed to execration; and many others seized the opportunity to 
defame the Irish Presbyterians as ignorant bigots and lawless 
marauders. 

A dialogue between Andrew Trueman and Thomas Zealot 
speaks of ''Saunders Kent, an elder these thirty years, that gaed 
to duty" just before the massacre, and while he "was saying grace 
till a pint of whiskey, a wild lad ran his gully [knife] through the 
wame of a heathen wean." This, and much more that is worse, 
lacks the first requisite of a good lie ; it does not look like truth : 
it makes Irish Presbyterians talk like English Churchmen, to 
whom the phrase "saying grace" is peculiar. "Gaeing to duty" 
is a thrust at family worship, in use among Presbyterians, but 
highly ridiculous to godless "sayers of grace." 

The Presbyterians replied that "the infamous Teedyuscung" 
confessed that he would not have complained of the new settlers if 
he had not been encouraged by prominent Quakers. They pro- 
duced affidavits that the Indians who were killed were drunken, 



RICHARD SAXCKEY. 457 

debauched, insolent, quarrelsome, and dangerous ; they refer to the 
Christian Indian, RenatUB, as notoriously bad. and assert that the 
Indian who shot Stinson, in Allen township, while rising from his 
bed, was secured, in Philadelphia, from justice, and comforted in 
a good room with a warm bed and a stove. They also charged 
that the representation in the Assembly was unequal, and that Lan- 
caster, with a larger population, was allowed fewer members than 
other connti 

In all the virulent attacks and retorts, Elder is never stig- 
matized as abetting or conniving at the massacre; nor is his 
authority or concurrence pleaded by the actors in their defence. 
Lazarus Stewart, and forty families of his neighbours, removed, 
and settled Hanover, in the Shawnee Flats, in Wyoming, under 
the Connecticut jurisdiction. Little did they think a few years 
before, when Elder marched them thither to disperse the New 
Englanders on the Susquehanna, ami found, on reaching there, 
only the burned cabins and the mangled bodies, — the savages 
having vindicated their title to the bind by an exterminating 
attack, — that they WOnld soon make their home there, and stand 

for the defence of their hearths against the Pennsylvania troops. 

Stewart, with many of his friends, fell in the disastrous battle of 
Wyoming, duly '■'>, 1778. 

'1'he anion of the Bynods brought Elder into the same presby- 
tery with Kuan. Robert Smith, and Duffield, they being at first 
in a minority, but rapidly settling the vaeaneies with New-Side 
men. Elder, by the leave of synod, joined the Second Philadel- 
phia Presbytery, May 19, 17G.S, and, on the formation of the 
General Assembly, became a member of Carlisle Presbytery. 
He died in duly, 17'.'2, aged eighty-six. having, for fifty-six 
yean, preached in the Old l'axton meeting-house, two miles 



Harrisb 



urg. 



RICIIALI) SANCKKV, 



A nativi: of Ireland, was taken on trial by Donegal Presby- 

Ootober 7, 1785: he irai Licensed, October 18, 1786, and 

• i to Monads Creek. This congregation is first mentioned 

in Octobor, 17o">, — Lazarus Stewart appearing to Bupplicate in its 

behalf the next year. Bertram, of Deny, moderated the <•;• 1 1 

which was brought to the presbytery for Sanokey by John Oun- 

.m and Etopert Green, June 22, 17:'.7. It is from that time 



458 SILAS LEONARD. 

styled Hanover. He accepted, August 31 ; but, it appearing that 
his trial sermon was transcribed out of books, to give a false view 
of his ministerial powers, and contained most dangerous errors, 
his presbytery rebuked him, and delayed his ordination. Gil- 
lespie remonstrated with the synod not to countenance such lenity, 
especially as Sanckey had sent the notes to Henry Hunter, " who 
had preached them to his own overthrow." Hunter had passed 
himself off as an ordained minister of the New-Light Presbytery 
of Antrim, in the bounds of Lewes Presbytery ; and the synod, 
finding his credentials of license genuine, but that he had not been 
ordained, that he had been guilty of prevarication, and also that 
money had been given him to go to the Bishop of London for orders, 
resolved, nem. con., not to countenance him, especially as there was 
" ground to suspect his principles," until he has gone through the 
ordinary course of trials in some of their presbyteries. He ac- 
quiesced; and, coming before Newcastle Presbytery with notes 
stolen from heretical divines, he was rejected. The synod blamed 
the Presbytery of Donegal for not taking notice, in their minutes, 
of Sanckey's plagiarism, or censuring him on that account ; but, 
as he had been sharply rebuked, and his ordination delayed a 
considerable time, they declined to lay any other burden on him. 
He was ordained, August 31, 1738, and removed, with many of 
his congregation, to Buffalo, in Virginia, about 1760, on account 
of the incursions of savages. In that year he joined Hanover 
Presbytery, and was appointed to preside at the opening of the 
Synod of Virginia in 1785. He lived to a good old age, respected 
by his people and his brethren in the ministry. 



SILAS LEONARD 



WAS a descendant of James Leonard, who, with his brother 
Henry, came from Pontypool, in Monmouthshire, in 1652, and 
settled at Raynham, in Massachusetts. They established a forge 
there. Wherever any of the family took up their abode they 
engaged in the manufacture of iron, until it passed into a pro- 
verb, " Where is a Leonard, there is a forge." Such was their 
probity and excellence that the Indian rule was, " Never hurt a 
Leonard." 

Silas Leonard graduated at Yale, in 1736, and was ordained by 
East Jersey Presbytery, in 1738, pastor of Goshen, New York. 
He was not a regular attendant on presbytery. The Revival 



SAMUEL CAVIN. 459 

spread through the Highlands ; and he* was " stirred up and spi- 
rited to water what was sown" in the city of New York and other 
places. Tennent, of Freehold, and Robinson, came to his assist- 
ance, and witnessed blessed results. 

In 1742, he met with the synod, to endeavour to heal the 
rupture, but, failing in this, joined in protesting against the ex- 
clusion of the New Brunswick party, and against the passages in 
the late pamphlets which disparaged the Revival. 

He died in 17G4. 



SAMUEL CAVIN 



A licentiate from Ireland, was sent by Donegal Presbytery, 
November 16, 1737, to Conecocheague. This settlement was first 
mentioned in September, 1736, when the presbytery refused to 
sanction the employment of Mr. Williams, from England, who was 
then preaching there. They had leave soon after to apply to 
Newcastle Presbytery for candidates, and Gavin came to "Cano- 
gogig." This congregation then embraced Falling Spring (Chara- 
bersburg) and Greencastle, Mercersburg and Welsh Run. The 
Separation of the congregation into East and West was somewhat 
precipitate, and without the consent of the presbytery. They ap- 
proved of it in August, 1738, the creek being the dividing-line, 
and " Alexander Dunlop the highest that belongs to the society on 
tin- west side." ''Several papers being read, and a pretty deal 
said by several persons," the call of the East Side was presented 

to Cavin; and he accepted it, April 4, 1739. The people, by 
James Lindsay, commissioner, Bupplicated, in September, that his 

ordination might he hastened, — their Subscriptions amounting to 
forty-su pounds, and they promising him what can lie had over 
and above, and that they will do what they can to procure a 
plantation for him to live upon. They had a meeting-house then 
near Greencastle, and agreed that, the other should he at Falling 
Spring, though the people of Hopewell thought this too nigh 
them. The ground at Falling Spring was given by Colonel Ben- 
jamin Chambers, — a cedar-grove, on the hanks of the creek, where 

the Chambersburg church now .-muds. 

Cavin was ordained and installed November 16j AnderSOO 
* l>r. Nicull, of New York, in Gillics'a Oollootiofll 



460 FRAXCIS McHENRY. 

preached from 1 Tim. vi. 11. In September of the next year, 
representations for and against him were brought from Falling 
Spring. In the winter, he visited the settlements on the South 
Branch of Potomac. 

The presbytery in Philadelphia, during the session of synod in 
May, 1741, admonished him for his imprudent and unguarded ex- 
pressions; and, yielding to his request, they dismissed him from 
his charge at Falling Spring. He signed the Protest, and spent 
some time, in the summer, at Anteidem, (Hagerstown,) Marsh 
Creek, Opequhon, and on the South Branch. After labouring 
some time in the Highlands of New York, he was called, May 26, 
174-3, to Goodwill, or Wallkill. The remainder of his life was 
spent in itinerating in Virginia and the other vacancies: — at one 
time, six Sabbaths on the East Branch of Potomac ; at another, 
preaching "between the two rivers." He was an occasional sup- 
ply of Falling Spring and Conecocheague, and was invited, No- 
vember 6, 1744, to the " South Side of East Conecocheague." 

He died, November 9, 1750, aged forty-nine, and lies buried 
in the graveyard at Silver Spring.* 

The Conecocheague settlement espoused the New Side warmly; 
and the complaints against Cavin were, that he never asked about 
the state of their souls, did not rebuke profanity, claimed for the 
natural man power to do good, and called the vehement, im- 
passioned language of Alexander Craighead blasphemy. The Old- 
Side congregations remained vacant many years; and the New- 
Side congregation in vain called Rodgers and others, and was left 
to depend on occasional supplies. 



FRANCIS McHENRY 



Married, before leaving Ireland, the eldest daughter of Hugh 
Wilson, of Coote Hill, in Cavan, who emigrated with his family 
and friends, and was among the first purchasers at Craig's Settle- 
ment, in the Forks of Delaware. 

McIIenry appeared before Philadelphia Presbytery, November 
10, 1737, with recommendations from Monaghan Presbytery and 
a letter from the Rev. Andrew Deane. He was examined as to his 
piety, and, having been licensed, was directed to supply Amwell, 

I * Kevins' s Churches of the Valley. 



SAMUEL THOMSON. 461 

Bethlehem, and other vacancies in Hunterdon county. New Jersey, 
and to preach every third Sabbath at Newtown, Bucks county, 
Pennsylvania. When Torment, in October, 1738, consented to 
have an assistant, "to preach day about" at Neshaminy, McIIenry 
was sent to spend every third Sal. bath, giving the rest of his time 
to Deep Run. In the spring, Neshaminy asked for half of his 
time. A request being made for his ordination, the presbytery 
met, July 12, 1739, at the meeting-house on the South Branch of 
Neshaminy: "he gave a modest but satisfactory account of his 
experience of the influences of the Holy Spirit." Robert Cross 
preached; and he was ordained, September 18. In May, Deep 
Run asked leave fco call him; but the presbytery directed him to 
continue to serve Neshaminy. 

The congregation of Deep Run* was formed in 1732: "William 
Allen gave the parsonage and church lot. It was probably styled, 
on the presbytery's records, " Mr. Tennent's Upper Congrega- 
tion," until 1738, when the name of Deep Run appears. 

MeHenry took no part in the time of the exclusion, hut re- 
mained with the I >M Bide. 

A call for him from Nottingham was brought. May 28, 1742, 
by John Dick, a commissioner ; and the Rot. Adam Boyd at- 
tended, to urge the concurrence of the presbytery. Touched with 
the deplorable condition of the people, they directed him to supply 
them: be did so for a season, and then returned the caUL He was 
installed at Deep Run and Neshaminy, Maroh K>, 1743. 

In the spring of 17o (l , he -pent eight weeks as a missionary in 
Virginia. He died in 17-37. 



SAMUEL THOMSON, 

A LK bhtiatb of Newcastle Presbytery, came as a candidate to 
th<- two societies of Pennsb trough in November, 17-".7. and was 
taken under the care of Donegal Presbytery. Both societies 
united on him; and Benjamin Chambers and Thomas Brown came 
i mera to ass for him in June] L788. Thomson was 
blamed before the presbytery for having written an offensive letter 
to the Proprietary, His friends pleaded that be had been shame- 
fully used by certain persons, and thai they had threatened to 



* Ucv. Dr Andrews's Hunulof the Doylestown I 



462 JOHN CRAIG. 

take him out of the pulpit, and drag him at a horse's tail to the 
New Town. Thomson was ordained, at Pennsborough, November 
14, 1739, pastor of Upper and Lower Pennsborough, Newcastle, 
and Silver Spring: Alexander Craighead preached from Ezek. 
xxxiii. 6. In March, 1745, Upper Pennsborough obtained the 
whole of his time. In 1749, he was charged with an immo- 
rality, and was suspended. He was subsequently restored, and dis- 
missed from Pennsborough. His congregation divided during the 
Revival. 

The first congregation " over the river" was on the Conedo- 
guinet, and had supplies in 1734: the first were A. Craighead, 
and Bertram, and Gelston. In 1736, Anderson preached at the 
New Town. In April, 1737, Anderson and Bertram were sent to 
Conedoguinet. John Penn gave the settlers three hundred acres 
for meeting-house and parsonage. They built their church first at 
the Meeting-house Springs ; and in the old graveyard are to be 
seen the stones with coats of arms graven on them. 

He was often sent to supply in Virginia. He was dissatisfied 
with many things after the union, and withdrew ; but, on the final 
adjustment of the matter, he was annexed to Donegal Presbytery. 

He died, April 29, 1787. 

His son William took holy orders, and came to York and Cum- 
berland, as a missionary of the Venerable Society, about 1750, and 
was the rector of St. John's, in Carlisle. 



JOHN CRAIG 



Was born in Ireland, September 21, 1710, but educated in 
America. He appeared before Donegal Presbytery in the fall of 
1736, and was taken on trial the next spring, and licensed, 
August 30, 1738. He was sent to Deer Creek (now Churchville, 
Maryland) and to West Conecocheague. He spent the summer in 
those places, and Conewago and Opequhon. West Conecocheague 
called him in the fall of 1739 ; but he declined a settlement in that 
charge. 

In 1737, the new-settled inhabitants of Beverley's Manor ap- 
plied for supplies; and Anderson* visited them, and settled the 
bounds of the congregations "in an orderly manner, by the voice 

* Rey. B. M. Smith, of Staunton, in Presbyterian Magazine, October, 1752. 



JOHX CRAIG. 463 

of the people." Craig was sent, at the close of 1739, to Opequ- 
hon, Irish Tract, and other places in Western Virginia. He was 
"the coramencer of the Presbyterian service in Augusta." He 
gathered two congregations in the south part of the Manor, now 
Augusta county, and, in April, 1740, received a call from Shana- 
dore and South River. It is described in the call as the con- 
gregation of the Triple Forks of Shenandoah, but long since 
known as Augusta and Tinkling Spring. On the 2d of Septem- 
ber, 1740, Robert Poag and Daniel Denniston appeared as repre- 
sentatives, and took on them the engagements made by the people 
at installations. On the next day, after Sanckey had preached 
from Jer. iii. 15, Craig was ordained and installed. 

At this time all things were working mightily " to draw the 
lingering battle on." "Having examined* the controversy, had 
free communication with both parties, (New Side and Old,) he ap- 
plied to God for light and direction in this important matter, and 
came — not instantly, but after time and deliberation — to clearness 
of mind to join in the Protest against the new and uncharitable 
opinions and the views of church government." The friends of 
tin- Revival passed through his bounds, but do not seem to have 
alienated Lis people to any large extent. They Were blessed with 
much -nee.— throughout the valley. 

He attended the synod in 1741, and signed the Protest. 

•• < ioing downf from the splendid prospect of the Roekfish Gap, 
you enter the bounds of the oldest congregation in Virginia, 
Tinkling Spring, with its old stone church. Here, in a wooden 
building finished by the widow of John Preston, Craig preached. 
He was greatly opposed to the location of the meeting, wishing it 
more central. " The people chose it, among other reasons, for the 
Convenience of the spring; and, it is said, "he never suffered its 
Water to eool bis thirst." 

Tin- eburcii in Augusts was strongly fortified in the French War, 
refusing to Bee from tin- savage. 

On the union, be heartily joined with Hanover Presbytery, 
and was as forward as any in soliciting funds for Princeton 

Co||. 

lie resigned the pastoral oare of Tinkling Spring in November, 
17". I; and the sermon vrbjen he preached on thai occasion, from 

"2 Sam. xxiii. ">, is the only one of his dlSOOUneS that can be found. 

It was printed, for the firs! time, in the " Baltimore Literary and 
Religious Magazine," in December, L760. 

"In this short disCOUT8e," he says, " I have collected together 

the sum and substance of those doctrines 1 have declared to yon 
venty-five years past 

Letter of Craig; quoted t.y Mr. BttUh. t Dr- ' 



464 JOHN CRAIG. 

"I have long, often, and sincerely exhorted, entreated, invited, 
and besought you, in public, in private, in secret, to come and 
take hold of God's covenant and Christ the Mediator thereof. I 
hope some among you have sincerely complied : I wish I could 
say all that I have been so nearly concerned for or related to. 
But now our near and dear pastoral relation is dissolved. And, 
oh, how does my heart tremble to think and fear that too, too 
many among you have not sincerely accepted of and embraced 
Christ on gospel terms ! Oh, how can I leave you at a distance 
from Christ, and strangers to the God that made you? I cannot 
leave you till I give you another offer of Christ and the covenant 
of grace. Let me beg of you, for your souls' sake, for Christ's 
sake, to leave all your sins, and come, come speedily, and lay hold 
on the covenant and the Mediator ; never, never let him go till he 
bless you. 

" Few and poor, and without order, were you when I accepted 
your call ; but now I leave you a numerous, wealthy congregation, 
able to support the gospel, and of credit and reputation in the 
church. 

" For coming into the bond of this covenant of grace ; it is by 
faith we take hold of it. This we do when we are thoroughly, 
clearly convinced of our sin, and misery, and undone state under 
the covenant of works ; and do hence betake ourselves to the new 
covenant, to the gracious method of salvation proposed to us in 
the gospel through Jesus Christ and his righteousness, and do cor- 
dially approve of, and acquiesce in this noble contrivance, and accept 
of Jesus Christ as our only Mediator, Surety, and Peacemaker 
with God, and in him do sincerely make choice of God — Father, 
Son, and Holy Spirit — to be our God and portion. On our part, 
giving ourselves soul and body to be the Lord's ; engaging, in the 
strength of our great surety, Jesus Christ, to abandon all sin, live 
for his glory, and walk with him in newness of life, as becomes 
God's covenanted people. This great work is carried on in all its 
parts by God's Holy Spirit, helping and determining our souls to 
do all these things heartily, cheerfully, and sincerely." 

In parting, he makes no complaints of them, and no boasting of 
himself. 

He remained in the charge of Augusta till his death, April 21, 
1774, " after fifteen hours' affliction," aged sixty-three years and 
four months. 

" The old people* in Augusta county have learned from their 
fathers that he was a man mighty in the Scriptures, — ' in perils oft, 
in labours abundant,' for the gospel; and they hold his memory in 
the highest veneration." 



* Dr. Foote. 



AZARIAH HORT03T. 465 

Craig said,* when asked if he found suitable persons for elders 
in new settlements, where he had organized churches, " "When 
there were no hewn stones I just took dornacks." 



AZARIAH HORTON, 

A brother of the Rev. Simon Ilorton, graduated at Yale in 
1735, and, on being licensed, probably by New York Presbytery, 
he received ■ call to a promising parish, Long Island, and was 
prepared to accept it. The case of the Indians on the island was 
1 upon him by the correspondents of the Scottish Society for 
Propagating the Grospel; and they prevailed on him to relinquish 
the call. Hi- was ordained by New York Presbytery in 1740, and 
entered on his labours at the east end of the island in the midst 
of the Great Revival. f Thirty-five Indians were soon after bap- 
tized. Subsequently he had little or no encouraging success. Two 
churches]; still exist, the remains of the fruit of his toil: one at 
Poosepatuok, on the Great South Ray, in the south of Brookhaven, 
the other at Shinnecock, the largest settlement, two miles west of 
Southampton. At the latter place he made his home, lie printed 
two yean of hie missionary journal. On the 18th of May, 1742, 
he was at Smithfield, Pennsylvania, and he spent a fortnight in 
preparing the Indians on the Delaware for Brainerd's coming. He 
went from there to attend the synod in Philadelphia, and signed 
the Protest of the New fork brethren against the exclusion and 
rupture of 1741. He met with many discouragements in his work. 

In his printed letter dated Southampton, September 14, 1751, he 
speaks of having been annoyed by the Separates; this, together 
with the diminished number of the Indians, and the hopelessness 
of doing them any good, led him to abandon the mission in L753. 
The Indian- on the island numbered only four hundred in 1740. 

He became the pa-tor of South Hanover, New Jersey, the con- 
gregation having been set off from Hanover in 17 1 s : for along 
time it was called Bottle Hill, and now is known as Madison. 
Be was dismissed in November, 1776, and die^ March J, L777, aged 

• Wo. 



ud Graham, in Dp. Davidson*! History of ELentaoky. 
Pi l! • iv of Long [aland, 

j II- bad, for lii- aaaiatant, Miranda formerly nn [ndian trader, who I 
bonrad to mstmei tin- Dalowaro and Bnsqaohanna [ndlani; bat bj i 
lintmont — QOUt$. 

80 



466 JOHN GUILD. 



JOHN GUILD, 

Born in Massachusetts, graduated at Harvard, and came, pro- 
bably as a teacher, to Hopewell, New Jersey, in 1737. He offered 
himself to Philadelphia Presbytery at their meeting, in Maidenhead, 
in April; and, when on their way to adjust the difficulties between 
Hanover and the infant church of Morristown, the ministers 
stopped at Captain Edward Hart's, in Hopewell, and took him on 
trials. On the 19th of September they examined his pious inclina- 
tions and dispositions, and licensed him. He supplied Hopewell, 
then vacant by the removal of Morgan. There was much opposi- 
tion to him there ; and his friends, though they had a majority on 
their side, condescended for three months, and the presbytery gave 
them leave to invite Davenport, and drew up a letter for the con- 
gregation to send to him. They, however, invited Rowland, then 
recently licensed by New Brunswick Presbytery, in disregard of 
the synod's act concerning the examination of candidates ; and he 
preached for them, although warned by Cowell that by doing so he 
would create and foment divisions. In October, Benjamin Stevens, 
John Anderson, Samuel Hunt, and Joseph Birt, petitioned for a 
new erection, — a division of the congregation ; and Enoch Armitage, 
Thomas Burrowes, Edward Hart, and Timothy Baker opposed. 
The synod, in 1739, on hearing both sides, condemned the friends 
of the new erection for their treatment of the presbytery, and for 
"improving" Rowland, knowing that the synod had not allowed 
him as a candidate, and refused to form them into a new congre- 
gation until they submitted the location of their proposed meeting- 
house to the determination of the presbytery. They requested the 
presbytery, when determining the site, to call, as correspondents, 
Nutman, Blair, Burr, Hubbel, and Wales. Whether this was done 
does not appear. The Revival was in progress in these congrega- 
tions ; Gilbert Tennent published several of the sermons preached 
to them during this period, and the division of the congregation 
was effected as though the captives were going out of Babylon, or 
the righteous were rising from their graves. 

Hopewell asked Philadelphia Presbytery for Guild, May 22, 
1739, and they referred the matter to the synod. He was called, 
September 18, 1739, but not ordained till November 11, 1741. 

He joined New Brunswick Presbytery on the union of the 
synods, June 13, 1758. The New-Side congregation abandoned 
their separate state several years afterwards, sold their church to 
the Methodists, and became comfortably united with Guild's people. 
He died in 1787. 



SAMUEL EVANS. 467 



SAMUEL EVANS 



The son of the Rev. David Evans, graduated at Yale in 17o9, 
and offered himself to Philadelphia Presbytery, August 5, 1740. 
They inquired diligently touching the workings of the Spirit upon 
him, and licensed him, January 8, 1741. The congregation of 
Tredryffrvn, left vacant by his father, asked to be set off to New 
Brunswick Presbytery: the matter was referred to the synod. A 
division took place. He was soon called to Deerfield, and asked 
for by the people in the Great Valley. He was ordered to supply 
both. He was called, October 7, 1741, to Great Valley, and was 
ordained. Ma y 5, 1742. Norrington had been rent asunder, and he 
was directed to supply the Old-Side remnant. 

Be was suspected,* although he denied it, of being the author 
of a scurrilous lampoon, — "Tne History of a Wandering Spirit." 
It was never acknowledged by anybody. Tennent, in his "Ireni- 
cum," clears the Synod of Philadelphia and its members of having 
ever approved of it or owned it. It was probably more severe than 
scurrilous; for even Blairf could only say, in defence of Whitefield, 
that his education had been very defective. 

In the affair of the School, the meetings of the projectors were 
held at his house. He relinquished the pastoral charge in 1 TIT, 

without Consent of the presbytery, and made BOVeral voyages to 
England. His conduct was BO disorderly that the synod disowned 

him in 1 T "> 1 . He was the father of the Rev. Israel Kvan.-. 



* Dr. Iff"l>ro. "The History of i Wandering Spirit" was printed in the General 

!•■ and Historical < 'limn id.-, for February, 1711. fThii Dumber is wanting in 

the Philadelphia Library.) Blair replied to it in the April number, setting together 

n!l the dnsl the Saviour recorded in the Gospels, u the " History, by :i 

Rabbi, >>f s Wandering spirit," oi famous In Palestine, in the June number 

tpplemenl t" the original m-t i«-i«-. asserting that it was Hi" production of i 
layman, and thai Blair had not touched the case, for he had Ml forth the ■ 
an enemy, bul they had given the Wandering Spii mony, 

the Querhrta 



468 ALEXANDER McDOWELL. 



ALEXANDER McDOWELL,* 

A native of Ireland, offered himself to Donegal Presbytery, Sep- 
tember 4, 1739, and is stated to have come from Virginia. The 
McDowell family had settled on Burden's Tract in 1737 ; and it is 
probable that Thomson, while visiting the new settlements, became 
acquainted with the young man and brought him to the presbytery. 
He was licensed, July 30, 1740 : in the spring he was sent to Vir- 
ginia, supplications having been made by North Mountain, James 
River, Rockfish, Joy Creek, Buck Mountain, South Branch of Po- 
tomac, and by the Marsh, in Maryland. He was ordained, October 
29, 1741, to go as an evangelist to Virginia; and in the fall he 
was directed to itinerate in Newcastle Presbytery. West Cone- 
cocheague, White Clay, and Elk River, asked for him. He seems 
to have settled at Nottingham ; for, in 1743, he was, at the request 
of Alison, joined to Newcastle Presbytery, that he might answer 
the supplication of White Clay and Elk River; and, as the price 
of this favour, Newcastle Presbytery was directed to supply Not- 
tingham for a year, and, in 1744, it was placed under their care. 

The synod's school was intrusted to him, and was for several 
years at Elk, and finally, in 1767, at Newark, Delaware. In 1754, 
he declined to have the whole burden of the school. Matthew 
Wilson was appointed to teach the languages, and to receive twenty 
pounds yearly. McDowell, "from a sense of the public good," 
continued to teach the other branches. On the union he gave up 
the charge of Elk, and it united with East Nottingham, under 
James Finley, the latter being the New-Side portion which had 
withdrawn from Elk River in 1741. In April, 1760, Coneco- 
cheague asked for him. In 1767, the school at Newark was char- 
tered as an academy by the Proprietary, John Penn. Dr. Ewing, 
and Hugh Williamson, M.D., visited Great Britain to solicit fund3 
for its endowment: they were very successful, and Ewing brought 
back six or seven thousand dollars. In 1771, Newark Academy 
had seventy-one students. 

McDowell died January 12, 1782, having never married. 

* A person of the same name, born in Ireland, graduated at Harvard University, 
and -was settled as pastor of the Presbyterian Church, Coleraine, Massachusetts, 
September 28, 1753, and -was dismissed in 1761. 



HAMILTON BELL — JOHN ROWLAND. 469 



HAMILTON BELL 

Was a student at Neshaminy in 1738. He offered himself to 
the synod for examination, September 29, 1739, and, being recom- 
mended by the commission in May, 1740, he was taken on trials 
by Philadelphia Presbytery, and licensed, September 30. Having 
spent some time at Nottingham, he Avas received by Donegal Pres- 
bytery, October 1^7, 1741. and on the 7th of April he received a 
call to Nottingham. He was also invited to Donegal and to Lan- 
caster, ami to White Clay; but, having accepted the invitation to 
Donegal, lie was ordained pastor, November 11, 1742. The next 
6pring he was admonished, and in the fall he was suspended. In 
February, 1744-~», he published his renunciation of the presbytery 
in the newspapers, lie "materially appealed" to the synod, in 
May. 1744, and they, ;it his request, appointed a committee to meet 
on the ground ami determine the affair. It met at Donegal the 
second Wednesday in June, ami deposed him; and the synod ap- 
proved the sentence in 1745. 



JOHN ROWLAND 



WaB a native of "Wales.* He studied at Neshaminy, and was 
taken on trials by New Brunswick Presbytery at its first meeting, 
Augusi B, L738, in disregard of the act requiring, in accordance 
with the direction of the Westminster Assembly, a degree from a 
university, or, in lieu "t" it, a certificate from the synod's com- 
mittee. They licensed him, September 7, ami directed him to 
Maidenhead, the congregation having leave from Philadelphia 
Presbytery t" ask for supplies. Cowell, of Trenton, informed 
Rowland that his going there would produce dissension; but he 
v., -ni. On the L9th,someof the people of Maidenhead and Hope- 
well complained to Philadelphia Presbytery of his having done bo; 
Benjamin StevenS| John Anderson, Samuel Hum, and Joseph Birt 
for a new erection, and for Leave to come under the cue 
of New Brunswick Presbytery; ESnoefa Aimitage, Thomae B 

defenoc "f himself tot bating Mit*!*iH the Bt] 

Philadelphia In ■ huiuinn him t.. their pulpit 



470 JOHN ROWLAND. 

rowes, Edward Hart, and Timothy Baker appeared on the other 
side, and it was decided not to consent to their transfer yet. " The 
presbytery advised them that Rowland was not to be esteemed and 
improved as an orderly candidate of the ministry." He, however, 
continued his labours ; and the presbytery referred the matter to 
the synod, and his friends complained of the presbytery, and asked 
to be set off as a new congregation. The synod first heard the 
objections of New Brunswick Presbytery to the act, and resolved :—r 
" It being the first article in our excellent Directory, that candi- 
dates be inquired of, what degrees they have taken in the univer- 
sity, and it being our desire to come to the nearest practicable con- 
formity to its incomparable prescriptions, therefore, all candidates 
not having a diploma shall be examined by the synod or its com- 
mission before any presbytery take them on trials." The proceed- 
ing in licensing Rowland was declared to be highly disorderly, and 
"such divisive courses are to be avoided;" and Rowland was re- 
quired to submit to the appointed examination, and not to be ad- 
mitted as a preacher in the bounds till he do so. They condemned 
the indecency of those of the congregation who had " improved" 
him, in disregard of their presbytery, in uttering unmannerly 
reflections and unjust aspersions against their presbytery and the 
synod. They refused their request to be made a separate congre- 
gation till they had submitted the matter to their presbytery with 
two correspondents from New Brunswick and three from New York 
Presbytery. 

The church doors were shut against Rowland, and barns were 
opened. Gilbert Tennent preached for them, and administered the 
sacrament,* and printed the sermons, with warm epistles of dedi- 
cation to those who had heard them. Rowland laboured also at 
Amwell, — "an agreeable people;" and they asked to have him for 
their minister, October 4, but the presbytery chose to ordain him 
as an evangelist, and performed that service, November 6. 

In a letter to Foxcroft, of Boston, Rowland says,f for the first 
six months there was no marked success, he having strove to con- 
vince them of their lost and guilty state. Then he changed his 
method with immediate happy effect. A sermon, in May, 1739, 
from John xi. 28-29, "The Master is come, and calleth for thee," 
and another from Matthew xxii. 4, "All things are ready; come 
unto the marriage," were blessed to many souls. On the 6th of 
October, through misinformation, only fifteen assembled ; but, while 
he preached, eleven were convinced, and cried out. He preached, 
December 30, from Isaiah xl. 6 : — "And he said, What shall I cry ?" 
— showing that man knoweth not what to cry until guided by the 
word and by the Spirit of God. In the evening there was a great 



* Sacramental Discourses. f Christian History. 



JOHN ROWLAND. 471 

impression made. At Maidenhead, while preaching on the "Para- 
ble of the Net," many were entangled in the meshes: not a few 
slipped out of them as soon as they could. After service, July 24, 
about fifty stopped at the "Christian house-," and the fifty-first 
Psalm was sung: the next day the mighty power of God was seen. 
There were also amazing manifestations at Amwell, July 27, and at 
Maidenhead, August 23. There was still a great revival in Sep- 
tember. 1740. 

He mentions that the zeal and diligence of the " Christian peo- 
ple" were especially serviceable to the converts, in promoting their 
3S : while, in Amwell, the same good effect was secured by 
"both the husband and the wife being taken," in many instances, 
and brought into the fold. 

When the division took place, he was sent by New Brunswick 
Presbytery to the New-Side congregations in Pennsylvania, in the 
track of James Campbell, beginning at Fagg's Manor, as far as 
Pennsborongh, (Carlisle, | and < lonecocheague, (Chambersburg,) and 
returning by way of Pigeon Run, Christina Bridge, and Green- 
wich, in West Jersey. Charleston and New Providence, in the 
Valley, asked for him. October 12, 1741. 

While preaching in the Baptist church in Philadelphia, on a 
Thursday evening, during the session of Synod in 1 740, the audience 

adly overcome by his description of their wholly-mined con- 
dition as .-inner- ; and the distress rose to such a pitch that Gilbert 

Tennent went to the pulpit stairs and cried out, "Oh, brother Row- 
land, lb there do balm in Gilead?" Then he changed his strain, 
and joyfully proceeded to unfold the way of recovery.* 

Mr. Daniel Kinley, a teacher at Deer Creek, Maryland, wrote 

•low ni- from the lips of D&vieB, the following circumstance, which 

may be Introduced with an explanatory statement of Samuel Blair: 

— •• Some believed tle-re was B good work going on, and they 

desirod to be oonTerted: they saw others weeping, fainting, and 
lamenting, and they thought if they could be like those it would 

be \e|V hopeful uitll tlielll J hence, they elidea Volircd just to get 

themselves affected by sermons, and if they could weep or be in- 
clined to vent their feelings by cries, DOW they hoped they were 
uieb-r conviction and in a very hopeful way."' 

A woman in New .ler.-ey, hearing many cry out under sermons, 

became convinced of the necessity of peroeiving her undone con- 



■ I i.i- ii- %. Ebenew i- Kinnenley, a Baptist minister residing in Philadelphia, was 
■ horrid harangue, and eras shocked al t • i — "designing, artful, delud- 
ing* 1 wnyof working <>u the p a Hi i • m mstreted «itli the oongn Ration from 
the pulpil ih ap in a tumuli against him. He defended 
. 

t In ii m- tram diTinee, in the hands of the Eler. A. B. 
Cro«8. 



472 JOHN ROWLAND. 

dition before she could heartily embrace the gospel offer. She 
attended wherever she thought she might be affected ; but she heard 
the most rousing preachers and remained unmoved amid a general 
melting. She was concerned that she should be blind and past 
feeling. She availed herself of an opportunity to hear Rowland. 
The word was with power on many, but she felt it not. She desired 
to see him and open her case to him. She was shown to the room 
where he had retired after dinner. He Avas walking backward and 
forward, and, asking her to sit down, he continued walking in silence. 
He stopped of a sudden, and said to her, with a solemn voice and 
aspect, "Woman, did you hear there is a warrant out for you?" 
Instantly, struck with amazement, she replied, "No, sir." "No? 
not know it? that is surprising indeed!" said he; and, with much 
solemnity, he continued walking. She sat awfully silent and as- 
tonished, yet assured that there was no precept issued against her. 
He stopped of a sudden: — "It is truly amazing indeed that you 
have not heard of it. What ! not hear that there is a warrant out 
for you? can such a thing be possible?" With fear and trembling 
she replied, "No, indeed, sir; I never heard of it before." After 
a considerable pause, he broke forth, with a pathetic, solemn voice, 
" Woman, whether you know it or no, I now tell you there is a 
warrant out for you, and from the highest authority ; and further, 
I tell you, the warrant is now in the officer's hands. woman, I 
am the officer ; and I do here arrest you, in the name of the Eternal 
God, for the murder of his Son." She almost fainted, and was 
immediately struck with a sense of her lost and wretched condition. 
She soon found by experience what conviction was, and her convic- 
tions issued in sound conversion. 

Davies spoke of him to Finley as eminently holy, and peculiarly 
endowed with abilities, natural, supernatural, and acquired, to win 
souls to the blessed Jesus. At Maidenhead, Rowland was admit- 
ted to use the meeting-house; but at Hopewell the New-Lights 
built about a mile from Pennington, towards the Delaware. In 
the middle of September, 1744, Tennent, of Freehold, organized 
the church of Maidenhead and Hopewell. 

A remarkable adventurer, who has strangely escaped the notice 
of those who have transformed criminals into heroes of romance, 
appeared in the colonies about the middle of the last century. He 
was known by the name of Tom Bell, and performed the exploit 
of successfully passing off, in the South, a transported convict 
girl as a daughter of George II. Passing through Princeton in 
the twilight, he was invited by John Stockton, Esq., to his house, 
who addressed him as Mr. Rowland. Bell with much difficulty 
convinced him of his mistake, the resemblance being so strong.* 

* Bell was slim, thin-visaged, of middle stature, with a heavy cough. His appear- 
ance under different names is often noticed, but he never seems to have been appre- 



JOHN ROWLAND. 473 

The wretch went to a vacant congregation in Hunterdon county, 
where Rowland was known by face to few, and, introducing himself 
as Rowland, was invited to spend the week and preach on the Sab- 
bath. While riding with the ladies to church, he professed to miss 
his notes, and his host took his place in the wagon, that he might 
on horseback seek them, and be back in time for the service. The 
people waited; but 

'• Xor hide, nor hair, nor any trace, 
Of horse or man was seen." 

Bell rifled a desk of money and escaped, proclaiming himself as 
Mr. Rowland. Rowland at this very time, in 1741 or '42, was with 
two elders of his, Joshua Anderson and Benjamin Stevens, and 
Tennent, of Freehold, attending a sacramental service in Mary- 
land or Pennsylvania. On his return he was charged with the rob- 
bery, and gave bonds to appear at the court of Oyer and Terminer 
in Trenton. The chief-justice, who was well known for his disbelief 
of revelation, charged the grand jury on the subject with great 
severity: after long consideration, they found no bill. With an 
angry reproof the judge sent them back again, with the same result. 
They were sent back a third time, and, being threatened with 
severe punishment if they persisted in the refusal, they brought in 
a bill for the alleged crime. He was acquitted at once on the tes- 
timony of Tennent, Anderson, and Stevens. The popular feeling 
Wal against him ; his friends were indicted for perjury, ami hi' with- 
drew from the province, and settled at Charleston and New Provi- 
dence, in Chester county. 

It was not an inviting field:* there was little piety or religious 
knowledge; but while lie was travelling, his ministrations were 
blessed to :i remarkable work of conviction. It was of short con- 
tinuance; in two months there was a cessation of the awakening. 
Rowland, on becoming their minister, wisely set himself to build up 
tic converts in their mosl holy faith. 

In closing his narrative, he says to Foxoroft, "This is very little 

of what I might have said." 

II.- died before tin- fall of 17 17. 

Dr. Henderson, of Freehold, in his Memoir of Tennent, 
he ] isse jed a commanding eloquence, and many estimable quali- 
ties. W'hitifiild said, " There WBfl much of the simplicity of Christ 
discernible in his behaviour.'' 

lid wide hi- bad hahil , and taught school Is Hanorer, 
Virginia. 

la Christian History. 



474 WILLIAM ROBINSON. 



WILLIAM ROBINSON 

Was the son of a wealthy Quaker physician, near Carlisle, in 
England. Having gone up in early life to London, he was ensnared 
into foolish courses, which made him ashamed to return to his 
father's house. He came to America, and taught school in Hope- 
well, N.J., from 1729 until 1739. 

At the commencement of the Revival, and probably under the 
influence of Rowland, his mind was filled with amazement, in con- 
templating the starry heavens, at the thought of his having lived 
so regardless of their Maker. " While meditating* on the beauty 
and grandeur of the firmament, and saying to himself, ' How tran- 
scendency glorious must the Author of all this beauty and gran- 
deur be !' the thought struck him with the suddenness and the force 
of lightning, 'But what do I know of this God? Have I ever 
sought his favour, or made him my friend?' This impression never 
left him till he took refuge in Christ as the hope and life of his 
soul." 

He studied at the Log College while he went on with his school, 
and was taken on trials by New Brunswick Presbytery, April 1, 
1740, and was licensed on the 27th of the next month. In August 
he was sent to Craig's and Hunter's settlements in the Forks of 
Delaware, (Allen township and Mount Bethel,) to "Mr. Green's 
and Pequally (Panaquarry,) N.J. He was ordained an evangelist, 
Aug. 4, 1741, and was again sent to the 'Forks.' " 

He declined the call to Neshaminy, which was presented to him 
Aug. 2, 1742, and was directed to supply there and at the " New 
Erection," in Nottingham. 

"His dear memoryf will mingle with my softest and most grate- 
ful recollections as long as I am capable of reflection. The neces- 
sitous circumstances of many vacancies, and the prospect of more 
extensive usefulness, engaged him to expose his shattered constitu- 
tion to all the hardships and fatigues of almost uninterrupted itine- 
rations. Tracing his travels in sundry parts of Pennsylvania, 
Maryland, and Virginia, I cannot recollect one place in which he 
officiated for any time where there were not some illustrious effects 
of his ministry. He had a noble, disinterested ambition to preach 
Christ where he was not named ; and therefore he took a journey to 
the new settlements at the South, in which he continued two years, 
oppressed with the usual difficulties a weakly constitution feels in 
travelling a wilderness, and animated only by his glorious successes." 

* Miller's Life of Rodgers. 
f Davies to Bellamy. 



WILLIAM ROBINSON. 475 

The smallpox is said to have left lasting debilitating effects on 
his frame, and to have disfigured his countenance and deprived him 
of an eye. 

James River had applied to New Brunswick Presbytery in 1730, 
and again in 1741 ; but nothing seems to have been done in the 
way of granting supplies. In the winter of 1742, Robinson entered 
Virginia, and was seized near Winchester by the sheriff as an un- 
licensed preacher, but was BOOn released. lie went up* the Valley, 
and spent the winter in North Carolina, where, by exposure., he 
contracted a disease which clung to him all his days, lie had not 
much Buccess in that province: he penetrated as far as the Pedee. 
In 1751, one hundred families on that river petitioned Hanover 
Presbytery for a minister. Returning, he preached with great suc- 
. Charlotte, Prince Edward, Campbell, and Albemarle coun- 
ties lately Bettled by great numbers of Irish Presbyterians from 
Pennsylvania. In Lunenburg, near the North Carolina line, there 
were a few Presbyterians Bettled among a number of loose Vir- 
ginians. He was the happy instrument of reclaiming many thought- 
eaturee, and <>f founding a flourishing congregation. 

In Hanover and Louisa, f Bar. James Hunt, Mr. Samuel Morris, 

and two other gentlemen, were, by the reading of "Boston's Four- 
fold State.'" and "Luther on the Calatians," awakened to a .-ense 

of their perishing Btate: without being aware of any person's feel- 
ing as be did, each absented himself from the parish church and 
its Lifeless ministrations. Being summoned to answer fur this 
offence, each man found his case was not singular. They agreed 
to meet :it each other's houses on the Sabbath and read the Scrip- 
tures and Luther's great work. For this they were frequently 

fined. A copy of the Bermons which Whitefield had preached at 
Glasgow, and which were printed from notes taken by a hearer, 
fell into the hands of Morris in L742: benefited by it himself, he 
invited his neighbours to come and hear it. "The plainness and 
fervency of these discourses being attended with the power of the 

Lord, many were awakened, and COuld QOt avoid Crying out. Weep- 
ing bitterly and even giving Btrange and ridiculous indications of 

their concern. The house became crowded; the Lord was .-peaking 
as "ii Mount Sinai, with a roioe of thunder, and sinners, like that 
mountain, trembled to the centre. A goodly little number were 
healed by the word, thai wondered and rejoiced understanding^ in 
Christ. A reading-house was built: having not been used to Bocial 
prayer, none of them durst attempt it. other readinz-hous< 

luiilt, and the Dumber of attendant- and the force OX divine inllu- 

encc much increa 

The haler- were summoned^ to appear at Williamsburg, and on 

• Tin- rivr ram aortaariy, m thnl going wuthuard\t going up the ralley. 
\ D ■'")■■ ; Mi. Jmbm iiui.t: quoted bj Dr. Fottia 



4*6 WILLIAM ROBINSON. 

their way, being overtaken by a storm, they stopped at a poor 
man's house, on whose shelf lay a ragged copy of the Westminster 
Confession. The whole summary pleased them ; and, having received 
the book, they presented it to Governor Gooch as the expression of 
their views. The Governor was a Scotsman, and, recognising the 
book, at once said that they were Presbyterians according to the 
Kirk of Scotland, and could not be molested. During the delibe- 
ration of the Council, a thunder-storm shook the house and light- 
nings glared fearfully, and they were let go, with a caution not 
to disturb the peace. Being dismissed, they very naturally and 
joyfully regarded the storm as let loose to "still the enemy and 
the avenger." 

A man going from Augusta* to Hanover for iron and salt, spoke 
of Robinson, and excited a desire to hear him. Some young peo- 
ple from Hanover, being at Cub Creek, heard him ; and this led 
Morris, and his friends to send some of their number to hear him 
preach, and, if they approved of his doctrines, to invite him to visit 
Hanover. They found him at the Rockfish Gap, and prevailed on 
him to promise to come. 

He travelled through most of the night to reach the place at the 
appointed day. Having seen his credentials, learned his doctrine 
and method of procedure, they were very eager to hear him. A 
large crowd assembled ; a venerable spreading oak, with embower- 
ing shades, gave him and them shelter. It was the Sabbath, 
July 3, 1743 ; he preached from Luke xiii. 3. He preached four 
days : the concourse increased vastly. " 'Tis hardf for the liveliest 
imagination to form an image of the condition of the audience in 
those glorious days of the Son of Man. Many came through 
curiosity, and were convinced of their entire ignorance of religion. 
There is reason to believe there was as much good done by those 
four sermons as by all preached in the next seven years." 

In private he succeeded in removing some doctrinal errors, and 
in engaging them to use prayer and singing of psalms in their 
meetings. They offered to remunerate him : he said, " I have 
enough;" but, overcome by their urgency, he took the money and 
applied it to assist Davies in his studies. 

When he came to Cub Creek, % the people were warned that he 
would preach at the stand. David Austin, a half-breed, but terri- 
ble as a full-blooded Indian, went to hear, and lay down at a dis- 
tance, as if to sleep. He rose on hearing the text, "Awake, thou 
that sleepest," and pressed near to the stand, the people making 
way. He returned home in great distress: his convictions were 
agonizing, and his deliverance remarkable. He became an eminent 

* Davidson's Kentucky. f Mr. Samuel Morris : quoted by Davies. 

X Related to me in May, 1843, by Dr. Alexander. 



WILLIAM ROBINSON. 477 

Christian ; troubled souls far and wide sought his counsel. The ex- 
cellent Mrs. Morton hud heard Davies and his compeers, and the 
Smiths and their associates; but she believed that none equalled 
l)avy Austin in skill to administer consolation to the disquieted 
and desponding believer. 

On his way to Hanover, Robinson reproved a tavern-keeper for 
his profanity. 

" Who are you?" was the rude demand. 

•• A minister of the gospel," was the reply. " Go with me, and 
you may hear me preach." 

Hi- promised to do so, if Robinson would preach from the 
wcrd-. " I am fearfully and wonderfully made," designing to jeer 
his visage, Bcarred and Beamed. Robinson preached from the 
text: the wicked man heard, and became a very pious and useful 
member of the church. Davies was " the joyful witness of the 
happy effects of the four sermons on sundry thoughtless impeni- 
tent- and sundry abandoned profligates. They have, ever since, 
given good evidence of a thorough conversion." 

11 is next field of labour was in "the Government of New York," 
pn.bably in the Highlands. Gilbert Tennent heard that many had 
been awakened by his labours. 

In 1745, :i most glorious display of grace began by his ministry 
in Wicomico, in Somerset county, Maryland. In Baltimore 
conn-;.-, there was a considerable revival; in Kent county and 

. Anne's, a number of careless sinners were awakened and 
hopefully brought to Christ. " The work was begun and mostly 
carried on by that Savoured man, Mr. Robinson, whose Buocess, 
whenever 1 reflect on it, astonishes me." 

The last six months of his life he spent at St. George's, Dela- 
ware, and took charge of the congregation. Of his labours there 

we have no record. There was a revival there under his occa- 
sional visits previously and those of VYhitefield. It seems to have 
constituted a part of Bohemia congregation, and to have enjoyed 
the benefits of Wnitefield's visit in November, L740. It became a 
separate congregation; and Robinson, in March, 174<i, took his 
dismission from New Brunswick Presbytery to Newcastle, with a 

if becoming their pastor. Rut his end was at hand. He 

died, August l, 17 16. 

Blair preached at George's Town, August : '>, a sermon, in oom- 

memoratioD of him, from Zech. i. 7. 1L<- speaks of his abiding 

if the deplorable condition of the uuregenerate, and of bis 

liberality, often giving away, at n lime, twenty ami forty pounds. 

I Synod of wen rork, at its first meeting in September, L745j 
having considered the circumstances of Virginia, and the wide 
door that is opened for the preaching of the gospel there, are 

unanimously of the opinion, that Mr. Kobin.-on IS the DMMt suit- 



478 CHARLES BEATTY. 

able person to be sent, and do earnestly recommend him to go 
down and help them, as soon as his circumstances will permit, and 
reside there for some months. 

Robinson was present at that meeting, and probably intended 
to go. On his death-bed, he left it as his last request to Davies 
to go to Hanover. To him he bequeathed* most of his books, 
having previously aided him with money. 

Davies had him in the highest estimation : — " Oh, he did much 
in a little time ! Who would not choose such an expeditious pil- 
grimage through this world?" 

The father of Dr. Moses Hoge had heard him preach near 
Opequhon, Virginia, and thought that his sermons lacked method. 
They possessed a living power. " Thanks be unto God, who 
always caused him to triumph in Christ, and made manifest the 
savour of his knowledge by him in every place." 



CHARLES BEATTY 



Was born in county Antrim, Ireland, between 1712 and 1715. 
His father died while he was a child. His mother, Christiana, 
was of the Clinton family,! who removed from England to county 
Longford during the Great Rebellion, being attached to the 
Royalists. Her brother, Charles Clinton, with Alexander Den- 
niston and others, took ship, in 1729, for Philadelphia. They 
sailed in May, and reached Cape Cod in October, and remained in 
New England till 1731, when they began a settlement in Ulster, 
now Orange county, New York. 

Beatty had received a classical education in Ireland to some 
extent, and may have profited by the instructions of the pastors 
of Goshen, Wallkill, and Bethlehem. Reaching manhood, he 
engaged in trade ; and, as was the manner of that day, — when, in 
the country, few out of the seaport-towns had the capital to lay in 
a supply of imported goods, — he travelled^ on foot, or with his 
pack-horse, to display his " auld-warld gear" to the people in 
their own homes. Stopping at the Log College, he amused him- 
self by surprising Tennent and his pupils with a proffer in Latin 
of his merchandise. Tennent, perceiving at once that this was 
"no pedlar's Greek," replied in Latin; and the conversation went 

* Davenport to Edwards. f Hosack's Life of De Witt Clinton. 

% Dr. Miller : on the authority of Dr. Rodgers. 



CHARLES BEATTY. 479 

on in the Roman tongue with such evidence of scholarship, re- 
ligious knowledge, and fervent piety, that Tennent commanded 
him to sell what he had and prepare for the ministry. He 
"was not disobedient to the heavenly vision ;" for he who spoke 
to Saul by the way called Beatty to " this grace and apostleship" 
also. 

His kinsmen were not passed by in the Great Awakening : for 
Leonard, of Goshen, was specially " stirred up and spirited" to 
water what Whitefield had planted in New York. Tennent, of 
Freehold, and Kobinson, laboured in the New T York Government, 
in the Highlands, with success. 

While pursuing his studies at Neshaminy, he was taken on trials 
by New Brunswick Presbytery, October 12, 1742, and was 
licensed the next day, and was sent to Nottingham. He was 
called to the Forks of Neshaminy, May 20, 1743, and was or- 
dained, December 14, the excellent Tennent being present in pres- 
bytery then for the last time. 

Brainerd rejoiced in his society, having seasons of sweet spi- 
ritual refreshment with him. lie went with him to assist Treat 
at the sacrament in April, 174", and in June rode from the 
Forks, and preached in the afternoon to-a crowded audience at 
Neshaminy, with great freedom in setting forth the sorrows of 
God's people and their comforting considerations. It was a sweet, 
melting season, happily preparing them for the Sabbath. Beatty 
preached, and there appeared BOme warmth in the assembly. 

Brainerd assisted in the administration of the Lord's Supper, 
and. towards the close, discoursed extempore from the sacred 
word-. •• Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise him," and was greatly 
favoured with divine aid in addressing sinners. The word was 
attended with amazing power: many scores, if not hundreds, in 
that great assembly of three or four thousand, were very much 
affected: "there was a wry great mourning, like the mourning of 

11a lad Killlllioii." 

B Stty and his wife, with Treat, came to see Brainerd at 
Princeton in October, 171", when about to leave for the Indians. 

k - My spirit - sinerd, " were refreshed t<> see them ; but I 

orprised and ashamed that they had rode thirty or forty 

miles to visit me." They rode with him ten miles on his journey. 

There they parted; but one special friend (Davenport) Btayed on 
purpose to keep him company, and to cheer his spirits. 

'1 he Bynod sent him to Virginia nod North Carolina in 17~>1: 
and he accompanied Franklin, when he, with five hundred men, 

came up to defend the frontier, after the bnming of the Moravian 

Ghtadenhuetten, near Lehighton. Franklin 

nioirs. 



480 CHARLES BEATTT. 

" The chaplain was zealous, and lamented the backwardness of 
the soldiers to attend the prayers and exhortations." Franklin 
suggested that the spirit-rations should be dealt out under Beatty's 
eye, after the religious exercises. This remedy secured uniform 
attendance ; but Beatty soon left, to go down into Bucks county 
and aid in recruiting. The synod, in 1756, judged it his duty 
to go with the Pennsylvania forces, if the Government should ask 
for his services. He was again invited in 1759 ; but the synod, 
on account of the state of his congregation, advised him not to 
go. They advised him to comply with Colonel Armstrong's 
request, and go as chaplain to his regiment. 

The Corporation for the Widows' Fund sent him to Great 
Britain in 1760. He was furnished with letters from Davies, 
which were of the highest service to him. The General Assembly 
of the Scottish Kirk ordered a national collection to be taken up. 
The Rev. Dr. Gordon, of Ipswich, wrote to Bellamy, October 27, 
1761, " Mr. Beatty is over in England collecting. Have had 
the pleasure of his company. He is at my brother's, (Thomas 
Field, bookseller, London.) Expect he will get three thousand 
pounds before he returns/' 

The Rev. Provost Smith, of Philadelphia, took the ground that 
much of the money had been raised for the distressed inhabitants 
on the frontier, who had been driven from their homes by the 
Indians. This involved Beatty in a long correspondence, to vin- 
dicate his character, and to prevent the fund from being per- 
verted from its rightful use. The corporation desired the synod 
to send two missionaries to the frontiers of the province; and 
they, in 1766, appointed Beatty and Duffield to preach two months 
in those parts, and to do what else is best for the advancement of 
religion, according to the instructions of the corporation. They 
left Carlisle in August, Duffield going through Path Valley, 
Fannet, and the Cove, and Beatty passing along the Juniata. 
The Delaware town, on the Muskingum, one hundred and thirty 
miles beyond Fort Pitt, was visited by them. They found a very 
agreeable prospect of a door opening for the spread of the gospel 
among the Indians. The white settlers were ready to exert them- 
selves to the utmost to have the gospel among them, but were very 
necessitous from the distresses and losses of the war. 

Beatty was married, June 24, 1746, to the daughter of the 
Hon. John Reading, of New Jersey. He took her to Great 
Britain, in 1768, to obtain relief for her from eminent surgeons ; 
but she died, soon after landing, at Greenock. The journal of his 
tour was printed in London.* He also published two pamphlets 
on the Indian missions, and a sermon, entitled, " Double honour 

* Philadelphia Library. 



JOHN HH7DH AX— TIMOTHY .^JOHXES. 481 

is due to the laborious Gospel Minister, which he had preached at 
the ordination of Mr. Ramsay, at Fairfield, New Jersey. 

To relieve the College of New Jersey, he sailed for the "West 
Indies, but died, August 13, 1772, soon after reaching Bridge- 
town, in Barbadoes. 

Three of his sons became ruling elders in our church. Dr. 
Charles ft Beatty, of Steubenville, Ohio, is his grandson. His 
grand-daughter, the wife of the Rev. Henry R. Wilson, died while 
labouring as a missionary among the Creek Indians. 



JOHN HINDMAN 



Was received as a candidate by Donegal Presbytery, Septem- 
ber 3, 174U; and, Gillespie having represented to them "his im- 
uce and childish simplicity," they resolved, in the next 
April, not to continue him. Soon, however, they were satisfied 
that they might retrace their steps; and he was licensed, May 30. 
11<- was sent to Virginia, and was, in 1742, at James River and 
Head of Shenandoah, and at Opequhon and Bullskin. He 
was ordained as an evangelist, to go to Virginia, November 11, 
1742; and w« find him at Opequhon, Rockfish, Potomac, "Cub 
Greek OH Round Oak." Rockfish and Mountain Plain called 
him, Man-h 20, 1745; and, in June, John Woods appeared, as a 
commissioner, to urge the request of Rockfish. lie was also 
invited t<> Marsh Creek and Conecocheague. His name is not 
again seen on the records. 



TIMOTHY JOHNESj 

<m Welsh descent, wan born at Southampton, Long Island, 
May 24, 1717, and graduated at Sale b L787. Of the period 
between his having college and going to Morristown we have seen 
do notice, except that, in that perilous time, when Bome" haply 
wen- found lighting against Goo," those who separated from the 

31 



482 TIMOTHY JOHNES. 

First Parish in New Haven worshipped in the house of Mr. Timo- 
thy Johnes.* He went to Morristown, New Jersey, August 13, 
1742 ; stayed six Sabbaths : " fetchedf my family, and was 
ordained, February 9, 1743," by New York Presbytery. 

As early as 1735, West Hanover had separated from Hanover, 
and asked for the ordination of Mr. Cleverly. He was graduated 
at Harvard in 1715, and remained at Morristown till his death in 
December, 1776, aged eighty-one. He never married. His small 
property became nearly exhausted towards the close of life, and 
reduced him to hardships. 

The congregation of Morristown " was, under Christ, col- 
lected, settled, and watered" by Johnes. He had a happy faculty 
of instilling successfully the principles of religion. He was much 
with his people. He read accounts of revivals to them ; but no 
instance of more than ordinary success is recorded during the 
first twenty-one years of his labours. Ninety-four were added to 
the church in 1764 : " these were the sweet fruits of the won- 
derful effusion of God's admirable grace begun on our sacrament- 
day, July 1, 1764." "The LordJ Jehovah has rent the heavens 
and come down, and the mountains are fleeing at his presence. 
There is something of this blessed work all around me." It was 
a season of " deep feeling and much anxiety," arising from awful 
apprehensions of the nature of sin and of the justice of God. 
Fifty were added in 1774: "those that follow are the ingather- 
ings of the divine harvest of 1774 ; — sweet drops of morning 
dew." 

As the result of the revival of 1790, forty united with the 
church; four hundred and twenty-four under his ministry pro- 
fessed their faith in Christ. " Few men laboured more zealously 
or more successfully." 

The American army passed the winter of 1777 encamped near 
Morristown. It was a disastrous stage of our public affairs : sick- 
ness swept away the soldiers ; and the gloom was made horrible 
by the abounding profanity and the ceaseless gaming. Washing- 
ton^ as the communion drew nigh, asked Dr. Johnes if member- 
ship with the Presbyterian church was required by him as a term 
of admission to the ordinance. 

He replied, "All who loved the Lord Jesus were welcome." 

" That is right," was the answer; and he sought, in the fellow- 
ship of God's people and in the remembrance of redeeming love, 



* Bacon's Historical Discourse at New Haven. 

f Quoted from his memoranda by Rev. Albert Barnes, in his Manual of the 
Church at Morristown, 1828. 

J Quoted by Mr. Hunting, in his discourse at Westfield, from Dr. Johnes's 
Letter in the Connecticut Evangelical Magazine. 

(S The Rev. 0. L. Kirtland, in the Presbyterian Magazine. 



TIMOTHY GRIFFITH. 483 

on the Sabbath, relief from the scenes that appalled him, and from 
the forebodings that oppressed his soul. The services were held in 
the open air, even in winter, in a sheltered spot. 

The church was at that time occupied as a hospital ; and often, 
in the morning, the dead wore found lying in the pews. Dr. 
Johnes, the son of the pastor, was intrusted with the care of the 
sick, and, through his judicious arrangements, the comfort of the 
sufferers was promoted, and the mortality checked. 

"Distinguished for his fidelity, his discourses were clear, plain, 
practical, persuasive. By an affectionate appeal to the heart, he 
aimed to win men to the practice of holiness. Few congregations 
were so thoroughly instructed in all that pertains to the practical 
duties of religion and in the great doctrines of grace." A lover 
of peace, his own people and the neighbouring congregations 
unhesitatingly reposed with confidence in his judgment and tried 
friendship, lie was not lacking in firmness as a ruler in the 
house of God, having, in one hundred and seventy cases, sought 
the welfare of the church by timely and wholesome discipline. 

In 1791, an unworthy man was associated with him in the pas- 
toral work. The truth, lung suspected, was finally made clear 
enough t.> secure his dismission in lT'. ,; i. The late llcv. Dr. Rich- 
ard-, while a candidate, preached to the aged man in his own 
dwelling, (then near his cud,) that he might judge of his fitness. 
11.' received a pall just before the death of Dr. Johnes, who was 
removed by dysentery, September 19, 171*4, aged seventy-eight. 



TIMOTHY GRIFFITH 



Was probably a boo of Timothy Griffith, an elder in th<- Great 
Valley. lie taught a classical school in Philadelphia in 1737, and 
graduated ;it Yale in L742. Newcastle Presbytery ordained him, in 
[748, as successor to Thomas Evans in Pencader. Understanding 
the Welsh language, be was ordered by the Bynod to supply Tred- 
ryfiryn oner a month for several years. On the death oi Diok, he 

• d to a farm in A ppo.|iiiiiimy, and resided 00 it till his 
death in 17">l. During that time, he probably supplied New- 
castle and Drawyers, they being, like Pencader, divided by the 
Side, and left very feeble. 
When the pron hreatened with invasion, he was elected 



484 JOHN STEEL. 

captain of the company raised in Newcastle county in September, 
1748. 

He was a missionary in Western Virginia in 1751. 



JOHN STEEL, 

A probationer from Londonderry Presbytery, appeared before 
the commission in May, 1742; and there being some irregularity 
in his marriage, by reason of a pre-contract, letters were written 
to Ireland before any steps were taken in his case. He was sent, 
in April, 1743, to supply Rockfish and Roanoke, and in the fall he 
was sent to Conestoga, being under the care of Donegal Presby- 
tery. He was ordained by Newcastle Presbytery before May, 
1744, and was, for a time, at New London. He removed to West 
Conecocheague* in 1752, perhaps earlier, and remained till the 
Upper West Settlement (now Mercersburg) was broken up. He 
was a man of great intrepidity : his church was fortified, and he 
led his men to attack the savages. In 1755, he received a cap- 
tain's commission, and held it many years. Several of his letters, 
in those difficult times, are preserved in the Colonial Documents. 
He preached for a time at Nottingham, and then at York and 
Shrewsbury ; and, on the union of the synods, he removed to Car- 
lisle and Silver Spring. Duffield had just before been called to 
Big Spring and the New-Side congregation in Carlisle. The call 
to Steel was made out April 20, 1759, and he was installed before 
June, giving two-thirds of his time to Carlisle. Duffield resented 
this, — his call being of an earlier date, and stipulating that two- 
thirds of his time should be given in town. The synod, in May, 
1759, lamented the unhappy state of feeling, and directed the two 
congregations to unite in building a house of worship, and en- 
treated the ministers to join their counsels to bring about a cor- 
dial agreement. In 1761, the church was built by a lottery, and 
used by both parties. 

He withdrew from the synod, with the other Old-Side minis- 
ters of Donegal Presbytery, and finally was permitted to join the 
Second Philadelphia Presbytery. Pennf wrote to him, February 
24, 1768, to dispossess the settlers on the Red Stone and the 



* Rev. Thomas Creigh's Historical Discourse at Mercersburg. 
■J- Colonial Documents : edited by Mr. Hazard. 



JAMES SCOUGAL — CHARLES MeKXIGIIT. 485 

Youghiogeny. In April, he assembled the people, and reasoned 
the case with them. There were one hundred and fifty families on 
the Youghiogeny. 

Dr. Martin said, " He was a good preacher ; sound in his 
theology." 

He died in August, 1779. 



JAMES SCOUGAL, 

A member of the Presbytery of Paisley, having received a call 
from the Old-Side portion of Snow Hill and the Ferry, in Wor- 
cester county, Maryland, (it had been sent to him -with the con- 
currence of Newcastle Presbytery,) came to this country in 1743. 
He produced sufficient testimonials of his piety, prudence, learn- 
ing, soundness in the faith, and blameless conversation. 

" The place called the Ferry" is mentioned by Davies as the 
scene of a remarkable work of grace, at the time of his entrance 
on the ministry. 

Scougal died in 1746. 



charles Mcknight 

vYa- taken up by New Brunswick Presbytery, June 28, 1741, 
and was licensed probably in the fall. In the oexl May. the 
of Delaware and Greenwich, in Warren county, New 
. asked l'"t- him, as did also Staten [eland and Basking- 
ridge. In August, Amboy rapplicated for his services, and 
Greenwich and Forks renewed their request. Staten Island and 
Baskingridge called him in October, ana he was ordained, Octo- 
ber 12, 17 II.', at the same time with Pinley and Soungs. He was 
installed, October 16, 17 11. ai Cranberry and Allentown. Allen- 
town asked Buppliee in L788; Cranberry, at the same th 
their commissioner, John Chambers, askea advice, being troubled 
ahum a proposal bo build their meeting-house m common with the 
Church of England. 



486 JOHN BLAIR. 

Whitefield preached several times, both at Crosswicks and Allen- 
town, on weekdays. 

McKnigkt was dismissed from Cranberry in October, 1756, 
and Burden's Town obtained one-fourth of his time in 1758. He was 
called, May 28, 1766, to Middletown Point and Shrewsbury; and, 
in the fall, Trenton asked for him. He was dismissed from 
Allentown in October, and accepted the call to Middletown Point, 
Shark River, and Shrewsbury, April 21, 1767. 

He was seized by the British, and his church was burned. He 
died, soon after his release, in 1778. 

In 1789, Morgan Edwards said of the Presbyterian church at 
the Point, "The place which knew it knows it no more." It was 
rebuilt by a lottery, and was only rarely used by the Presby- 
terians till 1820. Shrewsbury remained vacant till 1812; and 
Shark River has long been surrendered to other denominations. 



JOHN BLAIR, 



A brother of Samuel Blair, was born in Ireland, in 1720, and 
was educated at the Log College, and licensed by the New-Side 
Presbytery of Newcastle at its earliest sessions. He was ordained, 
December 27, 1742, pastor of Middle Spring, Rocky Spring, and 
Big Spring, in Cumberland county, Pennsylvania. These places 
had been served by Thomas Craighead ; the first two being then 
called Upper and the third Lower Hopewell. They divided on the 
rupture, Hopewell having supplicated the conjunct presbyteries in 
1741, and Campbell and Rowland having been sent to them. Blair 
gave two-thirds of his time to Big Spring, and divided the re- 
mainder between the others. 

He visited Virginia soon after Robinson. "Truly* he came to 
us in the fulness of the blessing of the gospel of Christ. Former 
impressions were ripened, and new ones made on many hearts. 
One night, a whole houseful of people was quite overcome by the 
power of the word, particularly of one pungent sentence; they 
would hardly sit or stand, or keep their feelings under any proper 
restraint. So general was the concern during his stay, and so 
ignorant were we of the dangers of apostasy, that we pleased our- 

* Samuel Morris. 



JOHN BLAIR. 487 

selves with the thought of more having been brought to Christ than 
now appear to have been. There is the greatest reason to believe 
that several bound themselves in an everlasting covenant to the 
Lord." He visited* the New-Side congregations east and west of 
the Blue Ridge, and also on his second visit in 1746. In that 
year he organized the congregations of North Mountain, including 
Bethel and Hebron, of New Providence, Timber Ridge, and the 
Forks of James River, now New Monmouth and Lexington. 

The incursions of the Indians led him to resign his pastoral 
charge, Decemher 28, 1748. lie seems to have remained without 
Bettlement till 17o7, when he succeeded his brother at Fagg's 
Manor. lie continued his school with reputation. In 1767, he 
ihosen Professor of Divinity and Moral Philosophy in the 
College of New Jersey, and officiated as President. On the acces- 
sion of Dr. Witherspoon, in 1760, he resigned, and accepted the 
call to Wallkill, in the Highlands of New York, May 19, 1769. He 
died, December 8, 1771. 

During the excitement growing out of the question concerning 
the examination of candidates on their experience of saving grace, 
one of the old Side published "Thoughts on the Examination and 
Trials of Candidates." On this pamphlet Blair published "Ani- 
mad versions," dated " Fagg's Manor, August 27,1766;" He also 
I med a reply to Harker's "Appeal to the Christian World," 
entitled " The Synod of New York and Philadelphia vindicated." 
He left behind him a treatise on Regeneration, orthodox, and ably 
written: it was published shortly before his death, with the title. 

U A Treatise on the Nature, Use, and Subjects of the Sacraments; on 
! ieration; and on the Nature and Use of the Means of Grace." 
The preface is dated " Goodwill, alias Wallkill, December 21, 1770.' 

In it he states that his opinions have undergone B change: and he 

begs that those who attempt to answer his reasons for the change will 
not throw dust. lie had formerly believed that, though the nnre- 

generatS ought to have their children baptised, they ought not to 

a Iventure to the Lord's table. On this point he had changed his 

and his practice. He endeavours to prove thai there is qo 

propriety in excluding those who wi-h to partake of the sacra- 

than there would be in excluding them from other parts of 

public worship. It woe reprinted by Dr. James i'. Wilson, in his 

Collection Of Sacramental Treat! i . 

Be married the daughter of John Durborrow, of Philadelphia. 
] Rev. John D.Blair, of Richmond, was his son. Sis daughter 
Rebecca was the wife of Dr. William Linn, of the Reformed Dutch 

1 In New York City. The Kev. Dr. John Blair Linn, of the 

1 Ihurch in Philadelphia, vras her Bon. 

* Dr. 1 



488 SAMUEL FINLEY. 

Davies said of him, in his elegy on Samuel Blair : 

"When, all-attentive, eager to admit 
The flowing knowledge, at his reverend feet 
Raptured we sat, thou above the rest, 
Brother and image of the dear deceased, 
Surviving Blair! oh, let spontaneous flow 
The floods of tributary grief you owe." 



SAMUEL FINLEY 

Was born in the county Armagh, Ireland, in 1715. His parents 
early sought the Lord's blessing on each of their children, and he 
was seriously impressed by divine truth in his sixth year. The 
family arrived at Philadelphia, September 28, 1734, and made their 
home in West Jersey. He was in his eighteenth year, and had 
already made some progress in preparing for the ministry : he 
completed his studies at the Log College. New Brunswick Pres- 
bytery took him on trials, August 4, 1740, and licensed him the 
next day. He went into the bounds of Donegal Presbytery, and 
was present at the trial of Craighead, in December, and abetted 
him in his contumelious treatment of that judicatory. He preached, 
Janu*y 20, 1741, at Nottingham, from Matthew xii. 27, 28:— "If 
I by Beelzebub cast out devils, by whom then do your sons cast 
them out?" This sermon was published with the title, "Christ 
victorious, and Satan raging," and was soon reprinted at Boston and 
London. Soon after appeared in print his letter in commendation 
of Whitefield. 

The conjunct presbyteries, in August, 1741, sent him to Dover 
and Baltimore, and directed him to supply the new erection at Not- 
tingham. He then went into West Jersey, and his labours were 
remarkably blessed at Greenwich, in Cohanzy, and Deerfield, in 
Gloucester county. Whitefield had passed through the region, and 
Gilbert Tennent had laboured there. "There was a remarkable 
stir of a religious kind in Cape May." In the spring of 1740, 
Abel Morgan, the Baptist minister in Middletown, New Jersey, 
"was so affected by Whitefield's spirit that he went forth preach- 
ing the gospel on the sea-coast" and other places in that province. 
He came to Cohanzy, and Finley soon appeared: on Tuesday he 
went to Cape May, and on Thursday Finley came. The mode and 
the subjects of baptism became the topic of general discourse; 
"many of the disciples went among the Baptists, which caused 



SAMUEL FIXLEY. 489 

great wrath."* Finley and Morgan had a debate which lasted two 
days, with the usual result of greater estrangement of the parties. 
Two elders and six members left the Presbyterian for the Baptist 
church. Finley published "A Charitable Plea for the Speechless;" 
Morgan replied. Finley vindicated the claim of infants to the 
promise and the seal of the promise ; Morgan put forth a re- 
joinder. Morgan Edwards says that Morgan's book shows him 
to have been a man of wit, of very genteel irony, and master of 
the Greek. 

Morgan alludes to Finley's fondness for controversy. lie 
printed, in January, 1743, a sermon, on 2 Thessalonians ii. 11, 12, 
against the Moravians, entitled "The Strength, Nature, and Symp- 
toms of Delusion," and, in the same year, replied to Thomson's 
sermon on convictions, in a discourse headed, "Clear Light shining 
out in Obscure Darkness." In all of these early productions is 
much that is uncalled for, and much more that cannot be ap- 
proved. 

Cohanzy and Gloster supplicated for him in May, 1742. The 
presbytery granted the request, and ordained him an evangelist, 
October 13: Robinson preached from Ezekiel iii. 17. lie went to 
preach for the Presbyterians in Milf'ord, Connecticut; but Lieu- 
tenant-* rovernor Law put an odious statute, lately enacted, in force, 
and he was carried from one constable to another and transported 
as a vagrant out of the colony. In August, 1743, calls were pre- 
sented to him from Cohanzy, Nottingham, and Milf'ord, and the 
presbytery sent him to Milford "with allowance that he also 
preach for other places thereabouts where Providence may open a 
door for him." Having preached at Milford, he went, on the 1st 
of September, to preach for the Second Society of New Haven, at 
the reauesl of Mr. James Rerpout, the son of the former pastor 
of the Firs! Church, and the brother-in-law of the present pastor. 
The Second Church, though regularly organised, was not reoogt- 

Oised by the Civil authority or the New Haven Association; it was 

an indictable offence to preach for them. Yet Finley went; and, 
on September 6, as be ires going to meeting, he was seized by the 
constable and confined. The grand jury presented him on the 
11th, and judgment was given thai be should be carried oul of the 

colony B8 a vagrant. The sentence was executed. Finley peti- 
tioned in October that the Assembly would review the case; pleas 
were heard in abatement, and sic prayer was denied. During 
these vista he made many friends, and maintained a mosi affec- 
tionate correspondence with Bellamy till his death. Hespenl siz 
months in Philadelphia, preaching to the ne* congregation. Se 

■ V of N'-w Jersey B ; 



490 SAMUEL FINLEY. 

was called, in June, 1744, to Nottingham, and was the pastor there 
seventeen years. 

In the summer of 1745, hy appointment of the conjunct pres- 
byteries, Gilbert Tennent and Finley waited on Governor Gooch 
to repel the insinuations made against Roan, and the New Side in 
general, as schismatics, defamers, and fanatics. The governor 
received them kindly, gave them permission to preach, and opened 
the door for the preaching of New-Light ministers without moles- 
tation. They continued at Hanover about a week, and did much 
good. The people of God were refreshed, and some careless sin- 
ners awakened from their foolish trust in their moral conduct and 
religious duties. Thus the dreadful cloud which overshadowed 
them on Roan's persecution was scattered for a while: they con- 
tinued vacant for a considerable time, but the Lord favoured their 
reading-meetings with his presence. 

Finley's school soon became celebrated. Among his pupils were 
Governor Martin, of North Carolina, Ebenezer Hazard, of Phila- 
delphia, Benjamin Rush, M.D., and Judge Jacob Rush, (sons of 
Mrs. Finley's sister,) Dr. McWhorter, of Newark, Dr. Tennent, of 
Abingdon, and, most celebrated of all, James Waddel, of Virginia. 

In 1754, it was proposed to call him to New York: he was liked 
as a preacher, "but, his voice being uncommon low, it was thought 
he would not suit" that congregation. 

When Davies was urged, after having declined the presidency, 
to act as vice-president of the college for six months, he would not 
consent, on hearing from the messenger, Mr. Halsey, afterwards 
minister at Lamington, that some of the trustees preferred Finley. 
He wrote at once to Cowell, of Trenton, " I recommend Mr. Fin- 
ley, from long and intimate acquaintance with him, as the best- 
qualified person, in the compass of my knowledge, in America, — 
incomparably better qualified than myself. Though the want of 
some superficial accomplishments for empty popularity may keep 
him in obscurity for some little time, his hidden worth, in a few 
months or years at most, will blaze out to the satisfaction and even 
astonishment of all candid men. A disappointment of this kind 
will certainly be of service to the college." 

In a note to a sermon in May, 1758, he styles him "the best of 
men, and my favourite friend." 

He was elected, on the death of Davies, to be his successor; 
and, soon after entering on the office, there was an extensive re- 
vival in the college : about half the students experienced religion. 

He died, July 17, 1766, while in Philadelphia, whither he had 
gone for medical advice. His state of mind was peculiarly happy 
and redolent of divine influence. Dr. Mason has placed, in strik- 
ing contrast, his end with the closing scene of David Hume's life. 
Treat, of Abingdon — the last survivor, except Tennent, of Free- 



ELIAB BYRAM. 491 

hold, of the brethren cast out in 1741 — preached at the funeral of 
his good fellow-labourer in that day of abundant harvest. 

Small in figure, with a round, ruddy face, be was remarkable for 
great knowledge of the human heart, for uncommon sweetness of 
temper, and polite behaviour. Many were his long and fatiguing 
journeys to carry the gospel to vacant and destitute congregations. 
Abundant in labours, fervent in spirit, He that sent him was Avith 
him, giving him, in the establishing of many hearts with grace 
through his preaching, testimony that his work pleased God. 

Hia first wife, Sarah Hall, died, at the age of forty-two, July 30, 
1761, — her mother being the second wife of Gilbert Tennent, — 
and lies buried at the " Rising Sun." His second wife was Ann 
Glarkson, daughter of Matthew Clarkson, Esq., of Philadelphia. 
son Ebenezer was a physician in Charleston; and his son 
William Perroneau Finley is the President of Charleston College. 
Dr. Finhy s daughter married Samuel Breeze, of Amboy, and 
among her descendants is the inventor of the electric telegraph. 

He published, in 1749, his sermon at the ordination of Kodgers; 
in 1751, on the death of Samuel Blair; in 1754, at the opening of 
ood of New York, from 2 Cor. x. 14; in 1762, on the death 
of Davies; and in 17»i4, at the funeral of Gilbert Tennent. 

He was the second minister of our church who received the 
degree of Doctor of Divinity. The University of Glagow, having 
conferred it before on Alison, "adorned" Finley with it in 1763. 

At Nottingham, he had for his near neighbour Samuel Blair; 
and Davies says of their intimacy, — 

" Finley, who full enjoy' J the unbosomM friend." 

After hia death, Mr. Ebenezer Hazard made persevering attempts 
to publish a collection of his works; but a sufficient number of 
subscribers was not obtained. 



ELIAB BYEAM 



Was born al Bridgewater, Massachusetts, and graduated at Har- 
vard University in 17 In. His ancestor, Nicholas Byram, settled 
at Bridgewater in 1660. 

He became the minister of Bocsiticus, now Mendham, New Jer- 
sey, in October, 1743. Before 17 10, there had been a meeting- 
abouta mill' and a half from the village ; in L745, a oew one 
waa built in town, and continued in use 'ill L816. Etocsiticua was 
placed under the care of Sen Brunswici Presbytery in L788, but, 
request, was restored to New York Presbytery the nexl year. 

Brainerd bad bin for his companion in hia first journey to tho 
Susquehanna, and apeaki of him with much affection. lie spent 



492 ROBERT STURGEON. 

some time in 1746 and '47 in Augusta county, and his labours were 
blessed : the awakening lasted till 1751. Falling Spring and Pro- 
vidence called him in 1747, having had experience of his faithful- 
ness and ability; but he declined to settle in Virginia. He joined 
New Brunswick Presbytery, May 22, 1751, and accepted the call 
to Amwell, June 25. He died before May, 1754. 

He married Phebe, daughter of Ephraim Leonard, of Raynham, 
of an ancient and honourable family. His daughter married Jo- 
siah Dean, of Raynham, the owner of the forge there, the manu- 
facture of iron being the hereditary occupation of the Byrams and 
the Leonards. 

His brother Ebenezer moved with his family to Mendham, in 
1744, and died there, August 9, 1753, aged sixty-one. The Rev. 
Dr. Philip Lindsley, of Nashville University, is the grandson of his 
daughter Huldah. 

Eliab By ram taught while at Mendham. Among his pupils was 
Benjamin Miller,* who had been in a remarkable manner converted 
under the ministry of Gilbert Tennent and was baptized by him. 
He began to prepare for the ministry ; but, adopting Baptist views, 
he was immersed, and was the useful and honoured pastor of the 
Baptist church of Scotch Plains. His labours as an evangelist, in 
Virginia and North Carolina, were highly valuable in 1755. 



ROBERT STURGEON 



Was a nativef of Scotland, and, having completed his studies, 
was about to be taken on trials, when some circumstances caused 
the presbytery to pause. He came to New England, and was 
licensed by a council, greatly to the regret of Cotton Mather, who 
felt that his conduct here had justified the course of the presby- 
tery. Wodrow lamented that there was so little of a safeguard in 
Congregationalism against hasty admission of unfit persons into 
the sacred office. 

He became the minister of Wilton, the Second Society, in Nor- 
walk, July 20, 1726, and was dismissed in 1732. 

He is said, in President Stiles's papers, to have been settled at 
Bedford, New York, for twelve years. Bolton, in his "History of 
West Chester County," represents him as being the minister there in 
1746. It seems scarcely probable that New Brunswick Presbytery 
would have installed Sackett there in 1743, if Sturgeon then sus- 
tained any relation to that people ; but, when so many other ties 

* Morgan Edward's History of New Jersey Baptists. f Wodrow Correspondence. 



JAMES JleCREA. 493 

were sundered rudely, even this unbrotherly act may have been 
committed. 

Sturgeon was present, in 1745, at the first meeting of the Synod 
of New York, as a member of New York Presbytery. His name 
is Dot mentioned after 1750. 

William Sturgeon, who graduated at Yale in 1745, was probably 
ii. Being recommended* by the Rev. Henry Barclay, of 
Trinity Church, New York, he was sent out at the expense of 
Christ Church, Philadelphia, in December, 1746, to receive dea- 
cons' and priests' orders in England. He returned in October, and 
was inducted as assistant minister of Christ Church, and catechist 
of the negroes. He was agreeable to the people ; and, " considering 
his youth and the stinted education given in the American colleges, 
he discharges extremely well'* his official duties. He resigned the 
charge in 1700. 



JAMES McCREA 



WA8 probably from Ireland, and may have been a son of Wil- 
liam McCrea, a prominent elder from White Clay during all the 
exciting scenes in the synod which ended in the rupture. He 
Btndied at the Log College, and was taken on trials by New Bruns- 
wick Presbytery, October 4, 1T89, ami was licensed, November 6. 
At that time Mnseinnecunk (Musconetcong) asked for supplies, and 
he was called, April 1, 1740, to Lamington, Lebanon, Pepack, 
Readington, and Bethlehem. This call he accepted, but was not 

ordained till August 4, 1741. 

Pepack and Lebanon Bupplicated in 17''*, and Lammintunck in 
the fill of 170'.': the presbytery wrote to Mr. Edwards to send 
some young men into their bounds. 

Among Other separations which were especially cared for by the 
conjunct presbyteries, in August, 1741, were Pigeon Run and 
Christine Bridge, in Delaware. Campbell and Rowland were sent 
t.i them. In the next August, Pigeon Run and Newcastle pre- 
sented a call for McCrea, But without success. Pigeon Run was 
nearly midway on the stage-road from St. George's to Newcastle. 
One stone in the graveyard indicates a burial then' as early as 
1780. [twas probably united with the New -Side portion of Draw- 
yen in forming St. < r< i 

McCrea was the father and Founder of the congregation of Lam- 
. or Bedminster. A portion of Ihe people procured his dis- 
Oj November 11, 1755; but the greateel part of the congre- 

• i f Ctttrist Church. 



T 



494 DAVID YOUNGS. 

gation united in a new call to him, and the synod, believing that 
his removal could be of no service, directed the call to be placed in 
his hands, — adding, expressly, that his acceptance of it would not 
entitle the minority to supplies, or to be refunded their contribu- 
tion to the meeting-house. Bedminster, Lebanon, and Reading- 
ton, (the White House,) presented their call, and he accepted it, 
October 26, 1756, and was installed, May 1. Charges were then 
alleged against him, which on investigation appeared baseless ; and 
he was fully cleared. When he resigned, October 21, 1766, his 
people engaged to provide for him, being near the end of his days. 
He died, May 10, 1769. 

His son, Colonel John McCrea, resided in Albany, and married 
the daughter of Mr. Beekman, who built the Vanderheyden House, 
which, with its galloping horse for a weathercock, is placed safe 
from the tooth of time in the pages of Washington Irving. The 
site was sold by Colonel McCrea's heirs, and on it now stands the 
Pearl Street Baptist Church. 

Jane McCrea, the second daughter of the minister, perished by 
the hands of savages, near Fort Edward, while accompanying 
them to meet, within the British lines, an American gentleman to 
whom she was soon to be married. The Indians quarrelled as to 
which should receive the reward for conveying her to the place of 
the wedding, and ended her life and the dispute with the toma- 
hawk. 

It is said that Captain Jones, the suitor, entered the British ser- 
vice with the design of seizing General Burgoyne, and delivering 
him to the Americans, as had been successfully done in the case of 
Colonel Prescott and General Lee. 



DAVID YOUNGS, 

A grandson of the Rev. John Youngs, the first minister of 
Southold, Long Island, was born in that town in 1719, and 
graduated at Yale in 1741. Davenport was his pastor ; and he 
warmly espoused the views with which that good man prosecuted 
his ministry. In his class-mates Buel and Brainerd he found 
congenial spirits. 

In the closing year of his college-course, Tennent visited New 
Haven. The college had been so much moved by Whitefield's 
preaching, that the enemies of " the stir" represented it as being 
broken up, and the students scattered to their homes. Tennent 
preached seventeen times. Among those Avho were savingly 
awakened were Dr. Hopkins, of Newport, and Dr. Sproat, of 



DAVID THORN — JOHN DICK. 405 

Philadelphia. The former speaks strongly of the eminent piety 
and zeal of Brainerd and Bnel, but of Youngs as excelling them 
in fervency of spirit, and of his successful endeavours for the 
unconverted. 

It is probable that, on graduating, he, as well as Bnel, was 
I at once; for, on the 29th of May, 1742, Brookhaven, or 
Setauket, Lung bland, Bupplicated New Brunswick Presbytery to 
ordain him. Why they passed by New York Presbytery is ex- 
plained by the fact that that body had not identified itself with 
the peculiar measures of the Great Revival. New Brunswick 
Presbytery ordained him at their next meeting, October 12; and, 
in 174u', the year after the Synod of New York was formed, gave 
him leave, on account of its being more convenient, to join New 
York Presbytery. He became a member of .Suffolk Presbytery in 
May. 174'.'.' 

fie died before May. 1752, leaving his people sadly weakened 
and discouraged by the success of the Separates in alienating 
many of hi- early and Warmest friends from him. 



DAVID THORN 



WA8 probably a native <>f Delaware, and 8 descendant of Wil- 
liam Thorn, who, in November, 1674, was intrusted (together with 
Edmund Cantwell) with the public property at Newcastle, by Sir 
Edmund Andros. He was examined by the committee of Bynod, 
and approved as a candidate, May 28, 1745. He was ordained 
by Donegal Presbytery between Slay, 1746, and May, 1747. and 
settled at Chestnut Level. 

I [e died in 1 7 -~. < » . 

II - SOU William was the fir.-t minister at Alexandria, Vir- 
ginia, and died in early life. 



JOHN DH'K. 



P obably. born in Wesl Nottingham, Maryland, was ordained, 

rcastle Presbytery, November L2, 1746, pastor of the Old- 

Side portion of Newcastle and Drawyers, they being bo weakened 

by the rapid growth of the New-Side churches that they needed to 

unite thai they might support the gospel. 

He died in 17 17 or ' i -. 



496 JOHN HAMILTON— HECTOR ALISON. 



JOHN HAMILTON 



Having been examined by the synod's committee, was ap- 
proved, May 28, 1745, and was ordained, by Newcastle Presby- 
tery, in 1746, pastor of the Old-Side portion of Rehoboth and 
Monokin, Maryland. In 1750, he was the minister at Chester 
Town, Maryland. 

He died in 1756. 



HECTOR ALISON 



Was examined by the synod's committee, and approved, May 
28, 1745. He was ordained by Newcastle Presbytery in 1746, 
probably at White Clay. He was settled at Drawyers from 1753 
to '58. 

A curious instance occurs in the records of synod, in 1750, in 
the omission of the name of a young man blamed for having 
hastily promised marriage. The lady was willing to release him ; 
but she had a scruple whether it was lawful for her to do so. 
The synod decided it was lawful, and called up the young man, 
and directed John Thomson to rebuke him in the presence of the 
synod, — " it being necessary to show our detestation of such rash 
proceedings in young people." He submitted ; and Cathcart and 
Thomson were directed to go with him to the young woman, to 
endeavour to issue the affair. They reported that they went to 
White Clay about Alison's affair, and that the parties subse- 
quently made a mutual release. 

In 1750, he was sent for eight Sabbaths to Western Virginia. 
In 1753, he asked for a dissolution of his pastoral relation. The 
presbytery referred it to the synod, and a commission was ap- 
pointed, to meet at New London on the first Tuesday of August. 
They determined the affair, and he probably removed to Drawyers. 

In 1760, he was allowed to go as chaplain to the Pennsylvania 
forces ; and, in answer to a very pressing application made to the 
synod in May of that year by the English Presbyterian gentle- 
men in Albany, he was directed to supply there till July. He 
joined Newcastle Presbytery after the union in 1761, and was re- 



JOHN CAMPBELL. 497 

leased in a little time from his charge at Appoquinimy. An ap- 
plication being made from Baltimore town on his behalf, a com- 
mission was sent there in November, who judged that the 
proposals were so unsatisfactory that it was inexpedient to suffer 
such a call to be placed in his hands, lie was dismissed from the 
ten,' in December, 1761, probably with a view to join 
South Carolina Presbytery, and settled at "Williamsburg, South 
Carolina.* 

On his removal or death, the congregation were annoyed and 
divided by Samuel Kennedy, from J)romore Presbytery, who had 
given no small trouble to the synod: and, although disowned by 
them, he went south with letters of recommendation from the 
Second Philadelphia Presbytery. 



David Brown, a minister from Scotland, joined Newcastle Pres- 
bytery in 1748, and, the next year, returned to his own country. 



JOHN CAMPBELL 



Was born in Scotland in 1713, and came to America in 1734. 
lie studied at the Log College, but it what period does not 
appear, nor in what occupation be passed, or in what place, the 
first thirteen years after his arrival. His home was probably in 
Great Valley, in Chester county; for Charlestown and New 
Providence petitioned New Brunswick Presbytery that, it' he 

should be licensed, they might have his services. At the same 

time. May 19, 17 17, Campbell was taken on trials, and when he 

I, October 14, s call was presented for him, and. on 

the 27th, he was ordained and installed at Oharleetown and Hew 

Providence. 

On the death of Rowland, Treat, of Abingdon, tools charge of 

congregations, and had the assistance of David Brainerd at 

Charlestown at the sacrament, August 11, L746. This was on his 

li-t journey to the Susquehanna; and. on his return, he preaohed 

then- twice "ii the Lords day. September 1 I, and spent the next 

day in composing a difference between certain persons. "There 

i to be a blessing od out endeavours." 

On the STSt day of May, L758, Campbell W8S struck with palsy 



* Bct. J. A. Wallace, King's Tree, Soutli Carolina. 



498 JOHN ROAN. 

in the pulpit, when commencing the morning services, and giving 
out these words in the 116th Psalm : — 

" Dear in thy sight is thy saints' death ; 

Thy servant, Lord, am I." % 

Davenport, under date of May 29, 1753, mentions to Bellamy 
that, a few weeks before, Mr. Campbell, " a zealous and useful 
young minister, was struck in the pulpit with a dead palsy, and 
died in little more than a week after." He was about forty. 

His daughter Mary was but two years old at that time. She 
married General William Harris, of the Valley, and, after a 
widowhood of twenty-five years, was gently called away in 1838, 
in her eighty-fourth year. She left six sons, of whom may be 
mentioned Dr. William Harris and Dr. Thomas Harris, of Phila- 
delphia. 

The churches continued vacant for many years, Charlestown 
yearly seeking supplies from Newcastle Presbytery, and New 
Providence at length uniting with Abingdon and Norriton, in 
settling Dr. William M. Tennent. 



JOHN ROAN, 

A native of Ireland, was brought up as a weaver. He studied 
at the Log College, and taught on the Neshaminy, probably while 
completing his theological course. He had, for one of his pupils, 
Dr. Rodgers, of New York, for several years. He was licensed 
by the New-Side Presbytery of Newcastle, and sent to Hanover, 
in Virginia, in the winter of 1744. He continued for a longer 
time than either Robinson or Blair, and the happy effects of his 
ministrations were visible and lasting. In several places which he 
visited in the neighbourhood, a religious concern commenced, 
where there was little appearance of it before, and increased ; and 
this, with his free comments on the Established Church, led to a 
vigorous attempt to silence him, and suppress " the New Light" 
altogether. Affidavits were laid before Governor Gooch, charging 
him with blasphemous language and saying that the adherents of 
the Episcopal way were damned, and worshipped the devil. The 
governor delivered a vehement charge to the grand jury. An in- 
dictment was prepared, April 9, 1745, against Roan, (though he 
had left the colony,) on the information of James Axford, for re- 



JOHN ROAN. 499 

fleeting upon and vilifying the Established religion in divers ser- 
mons preached at the house of Joshua Morris, in James City 
parish, on the 7th, . s th, ami 9th of January, before a numerous 
audience unlawfully assembled. 

The governor's charge was published. " Without a breach of 
charity, we may pronounce that 'tis not liberty of conscience, but 
im of speech, they so earnestly prosecute." An order, for- 
bidding any meetings of Moravians, Muggletonians, and New 
Lights, was issued, for which there was some show of reason, it 
being the memorable 174">. when the Pretender made his last 
attempt on the Crown. In the next month, the people of Hano- 
iit Samuel Morris and three others to lay the case before 
the conjunct presbyteries. They sent an address to the governor 
by the hands of Gilbert Tennent and Samuel Finlcy. Before 
they arrived. Azford confessed himself perjured, by fleeing and 
never returning. The indictment was tried, October 19; but the 
six witnesses, cited by the attorney-general, fully proved that he 
had ottered none of the expressions imputed to him. 

It is probable that he had been ordained before this time. He 
was soon after settled over the united congregations of Derry, 
Paxton, and Mount Joy. The latter was in Adams county, and 
u now Great Conewago. It was a division of Black's con- 
inn of Conewago, and had one-fifth of Roan's time. 

B ainerd passed through Paxton and Derry in the fall of 1745; 
but in his printed journal no mention is made of Roan. As he 
rode along, September 11, he had a very importunate invitation 

to preach, — the people being gathered at the meeting-house; but 

he could not, by reason of weakness. He was annoyed by the 
rudeness of irreligious fellows at a tavern where he Lodged in 
Paxton. "The Pextang Boys*' were bearers of Roan, as well as 
ler. 
union of the synods placed Roan in Donegal Presbytery; 
and points of difficulty continually arose, which admitted of do 
compromise. The licensing of William Edmeston was the oc- 
oasion of much uneasiness. He was a student of Sampson 
Smith's and a prominent witness in his defence. These were no 
recommendations in the eyes of Roan; and he declared himself 
dissatisfied with what the majority accepted as evidence of the 
young man's piety. Bdmeeton prosecuted Roan for various 
things, to the effect thai he was a party and a principal mover in 
:i conspiracy to destroy Smith by perjured or dishonesl witi 
The trial was protracted, and was in the lasl degree insulting; 
trivia] questions without end wire asked, and persons were sworn 
as witnesses, seemingly only to annoy them. It ended in Ed- 
meston's going to England for holy orders. Some friend recom- 
mended him to the Bishop of London for b parish in Maryland, 



500 DAVID BOSTWICK. 

which the Lord-Proprietary of Maryland very highly resented; 
"giving an idea," says Bishop White, " of the reception a bishop 
would probably have, if sent over to that province." 

Roan, towards the close of life, informed the presbytery that his 
congregations were deeply sunk in debt. He was sent on mis- 
sionary tours, and, at one time, spent eight weeks on the South 
Branch of Potomac. 

He died, October 3, 1775, and lies buried at Derry meeting- 
house, on the Swatara, with this inscription : — 

" Beneath this stone 
Are deposited the remains 
Of an able and faithful, 
Courageous and successful 
Minister of Jesus Christ." 

" Truths for once told on a tombstone," says the author of 
"Mark Bancroft's Tales." 

William Graham, of Washington College, Virginia, was a mem- 
ber of his church, and received from him the education preparatory 
to entering Nassau Hall, and his theological training. 



DAVID BOSTWICK 



Was born in New Milford, Connecticut, in 1721, of parents who 
were from Scotland. He entered Yale College, but, before gradu- 
ating, left, and completed his studies with Burr, at Newark. For 
some time he was his assistant in the Academy. 

He was ordained, by New York Presbytery, pastor at Jamaica, 
Long Island, October 9, 1745. Burr preached from 2 Timothy 
ii. 16, and Pemberton exhorted the minister and people. 

Davies heard him preach, during the synod in 1753, an excellent 
sermon on Acts ii. 11. "He has, I think, the best style, extem- 
pore, of any man I ever heard." He heard him the next evening 
on "Godliness is Profitable for all Things," and was much charmed 
with both his matter and his language. The next day being the 
Lord's day, he preached in the evening, "When Christ who is your 
life shall appear." "My pleasure under his sermon was renewed 
and increased." 

The next year he was appointed on a mission to Virginia and 
North Carolina, but it is not probable that he went. 

He continued at Jamaica ten years, enjoying the respect and 



DAVID BOSTWICK. 501 

affection of his own people and of the town, with scarcely an ex- 
ception ; for, at a meeting of the freeholders in the spring of 1753, 
only three persons dissented from giving to the elders and deacons 
certain lands, and the right to sell them for the support of a Pres- 
byterian minister forever. 

The troubles in the congregation of New York had not been re- 
moved by dismissing the pastors, Pemberton and Gumming ; but 
an agreement had been effected in relation to the mode of electing 
trustees, the enlargement of the session in reference to Psalmody, 
also, and the administration of Infant Baptism. 

"By order* of the synod, in 1754, Samuel Finley and John Blair 
came to New York to call a committee in the congregation of such 
men as might be thought fit to act for that congregation ini-elation 
to a call and settlement of a pastor, as our elders appeared too in- 
dolent in the matter. The congregation was opposed by some of 
the gentlemen with much vehemence, which much surprised the 
ministers : they abused some publicly, and their behaviour more and 
more convinced us that the church's real good was little their care 
or concern. They talk of putting to vote in the congregation for 
Mr. Boetwick and Mr. Blair. We have been refused Mr. Davies. 
We find that those who opposed Mr. Bellamy would oppose Mr. 
Edwards." They united with unanimity, in July, 1755, in a call 
for Bostwick. The presbytery asked the advice of the synod, and a 
large committee of the most valuable ministers was appointed to 
meet at Jamaica and determine the affair. Twelve ministers at- 
tended; but, not having sufficient light, they referred it to the com- 
mission. They appointed Bostwick to spend ten sabbaths in New 
York, and provided a constanl supply for bis people. "Mr. Bost- 
wickt began bis ten weeks of probation (as also his trial of us) the 
first Sabbath in December, we have had a Seoeder minister | Rev. 
Alexander Gellatly) invited here, who has preached for a month 
four discourses ;i week, in a house provided for him: he is ;i man 
of sense ■•up! Learning, ami, to all appearance, really pious. Mr. 
ick and Mi - . Hail went to hear him in the evening, who both 
approved of hi- preaching." "No opposition} appears to Mr. 
vostwick: the gentlemen thai were opposed to Bellamy are very 
lealons for him. !!'■ may !"• settled, and a seceding congregation 
raised np, chiefly out of our congregation; though pious people of 
almosl all denominations are very fond of Mr. Gellatly' s preaching. 
Pot my part, 1 like it eery much, and think it well calculated to cfc 
good bere. It i-- ;i pity hi- principles are so narrow; hut this oity 
. long been fed with bread, perhaps s change will he health- 
ful." His Labours among them eery much increased, and Btrength* 



■ Samuel Lowdeo t.. Bellamy, October ". 17". 1. 

1 N. Hii/.ni to Bellamy, I 1 X [bid., January 9, 1758. 



502 DAVID BOSTWICK. 

ened the desire for him. The commission dissolved the pastoral re- 
lation, April 15, 1750", because so many fruitless attempts had been 
made to resettle the gospel in New York, and there was so desirable 
a prospect of his usefulness there. 

Immediately the Scots erected a small house of worship ; and in 
June, 1761, the Rev. John Mason arrived from Scotland, — "a 
great philosopher, but not popular." He had rejected several calls 
from other churches, and was with great difficulty persuaded by his 
friends that it was his duty to remove to New York from a people 
earnestly entreating him to remain. 

"As the congregation of Jamaica will necessarily be put to 
charge in obtaining a resettlement of the gospel ministry, the com- 
mission-earnestly recommend to the church in New York to exer- 
cise a Christian generosity towards them, that they may be better 
enabled to settle another minister." 

He was soon after installed in New York. One of his hearers, 
Wm. Smith, Esq., in his "History of New York," gave this account 
while he was living: — "Of a mild and catholic disposition, with 
piety, prudence, and zeal, he confines himself entirely to the proper 
business of his function. In the art of preaching he is one of the 
most distinguished clergymen in these parts. His discourses are 
methodical, sound, and pathetic in sentiment, and, in point of lan- 
guage, singularly ornamented. He delivers himself without notes, 
and yet with great ease and fluency of expression, and performs 
every part of divine service with a striking solemnity." 

In the winter of 1756, the prevalence of smallpox put him to 
study what is present duty, and the mind of Providence in regard 
to himself and his family. "I had rather die in the way of duty 
than purchase life by running out of it. I have therefore con- 
cluded to stay : but I have thought it prudent to send my family to 
Newark. I see many people will venture to tarry when they have 
nothing in prospect but a little worldly advantage : and will it do 
for a minister of" Christ, whose work is so very important, to leave 
it for such appearances of danger as will not influence worldly men 
to quit their worldly interests? If I have any more work to do 
for God, he will carry me safely through ; to him I commit my 
cause, and through the blood of Jesus wait for eternal life." 

He preached before the commissions of the two synods, imme- 
diately previous to the union, in 1758, from 1 Corinthians iv. 25. 
The sermon was printed, with the title, "Self Disclaimed and 
Christ Exalted," and in 1802, it was published in the second 
volume of the "Evangelical Preacher," in Edinburgh, with a re- 
commendation by Dr. Erskine. 

He delivered a eulogium on President Davies, and followed him 
the next year to a better world. He died, after a few days' illness, 
November 12, 1763, in the forty-fourth year of his age, " being 



DAVID BOSTWICK. 503 

remarkably supported." His health had been for a long time so 
delicate that he needed an assistant : and the Rev. Joseph Treat 
was called to be his colleague, in October, 1702. 

"As a preacher he was uncommonly popular. His gifts and 
qualifications for the pulpit were of a high order. His appearance 
and deportment were peculiarly venerable. He possessed a clear 
Understanding, a warm heart, a quick apprehension, a lively imagi- 
nation, a solid judgment. lie had a strong voice, and spoke in a 
distinct, deliberate, and impressive manner, and with a command- 
ing eloquence. He dealt faithfully with his hearers, declaring to 
them the whole counsel of God, showing them their danger and 
their remedy; speaking with the solemnity becoming the import- 
ance of the subject, in language pure and elegant, plain and affec- 
tionate, never below the dignity of the pulpit, nor above the ca- 
pacity of any of his hearers." 

Dr. Miller says, " He possessed pulpit talents superior to most 
of his brethren: his piety ami prudence were as conspicuous as his 
brilliant gifts. His eloquence was such as few attain: the ardour 
of his piety, and the purity of his life, gave him a strong hold on 
public esteem. His ministry in New York equalled the most san- 
guine expectations of his friends;" but he could not bring back the 
Presbyterian Society. 

Not long after his decease, his treatise entitled "A Fair and 
Rational Vindication of the Right of Infants to the Ordinance of 
Baptism" was published in New York, and reprinted the next year, 
in London. 

His widow died at Newark, September 22, 177*, aged fifty- 
?'■.' ii. Hi.- daughter Hannah was married to Mr. Barret, Major- 
Genera] McDougal, and the Rev. Dr. Roe, of Woodbridge. 

In May. l~t;_', the congregation purchased a parsonage; but, 
i being strengthened in numbers, established in peace, and 
favoured with prosperity, a better benefit descended from heaven. 
Shortly before hie the means of grace were attended with 

a more than common blessing. A portion of its happy inlluence 
remained when Rodgers was metalled, in 17<i.~>. 

The loss of In- eldeel son, in 1 T • *■ i2 . was a heavy blow, "who was 
bo much the darling and hope of my family." In January, 17i;d, 

i id, "OIT church affair- are hut in an indifferent situation. 

Unhappily for us, the settlemenl of Mr. Treat has made some jar, 

and di satisfied a Dumber, though I hope not many. An attempt 
hi- been made by Messrs. Hazard, Wells, and others, to ereol an- 
other congregation, in which Mr. Thompson has been employed as 

: -her; hut with no success. Religion is indeed at a low ebb 
with u-." Shortly before his death, the mean- of grace were at- 

i with a more than common j " thoughtf ulnese about 



504 THOMAS ARTHUR. 

religion" continued; and this was probably a strong indr cement to 
Rodgers to accept the call. 

Bostwick said, in 1759, " There were some slight awakenings, but 
no genuine convictions; good people have not a right temper." 
Hazard, whose heart was bound up in Bellamy, said, "Our con- 
gregation is yearly increasing in grandeur and finery, but, I be- 
lieve, has seen its best days as to godliness, perhaps for this age." 



THOMAS ARTHUR 



Graduated at Yale in 1743, and was, on being licensed, em- 
ployed for a time at Stratfield, Connecticut. He was ordained and 
installed, by New York Presbytery, pastor at New Brunswick, in 
1746. It seems not unlikely, from the remark of Gilbert Tennent, 
in 1744, that the congregation there was then sadly changed from 
its favoured condition when it was as a field the Lord had blessed ; 
and that his removal had been preceded or followed by some un- 
happy occurrences, which led to its placing itself under New York 
Presbytery. 

Arthur* was a good scholar, a graceful orator, a finished 
preacher, an excellent Christian ; steadfast, without a tincture of 
bigotry; cheerful in conversation, without the appearance of 
levity; of an amiable and engaging behaviour; the darling of his 
people. 

He was one of the original trustees of New Jersey College, as 
was also Mr. Johannes Leydt, the pastor of the Dutch Reformed 
Church of New Brunswick. 

His sermon at the ordination of Thane, in August, 1750, was 
printed, and the trustees of the congregation of New York re- 
quested a copy, for publication, of his sermon preached at the ordi- 
nation of Cumming as their pastor, in October of that year. 

He died, February 2, 1750-1, aged twenty-seven. His distemper 
was violent, and soon affected his head ; but as death approached 
the clouds scattered. He passed away calmly, leaving his soul in 
the hands of Christ, saying, " I am not afraid to depend on his all- 
sufficient merits alone for eternal life." 

The meeting-house was struck with lightning in June, 1752, and 
was pretty much shattered. A long vacancy ensued in the pastoral 

* Obituary in New York Papers. 



ANDREW HUNTER. 605 

office, during which Cumming probably supplied them from 1753 
to 1761. About this time the congregation again came under the 
care of New Brunswick Presbytery. 



ANDREW HUNTER 



Was taken on trials by New Brunswick Presbytery, September 
11, 1744, ami was licensed May 28, 1745: he was ordained the 
pastor of Greenwich and Deerfield, in West Jersey, September 4, 
1740. 

In 1720, Gloster and Pilesgrove were associated in endeavours 
to "settle the gospel among them," and continued united till 
1738, when the name of Gloster ceases, and Pilesgrove and Deer- 
field had the Rev. Daniel Buckingham as i candidate. Piles- 
grove was anxious to make efforts to secure him permanently; but 
Deerfield refused. Anew meeting-house was needed at the former 
place, and. after much contention, was placed, with the consent of 
tin' commission, within six miles of Deerfield Church. This put 
them asunder; and, when Pilesgrove and Quihawken called David 
Evans, the presbytery mournfully record that Deerfield is left. It 
passed over to the New Side, and united with Greenwich in settling 
Hunter. 

Gree nw ich was left vacant by Gould's removal at the commence- 
ment of tli*- Revival; it was fully enlisted on the side of its prO- 

meters. Whitefield preached in April and in October, 1740, at 
Greenwich and Gloster. Tennent had been there before hia Becond 

Visit, and, 00 the rupture, Campbell and Rowland Were bidden to 

complete' their circuit by preaching at Oape May and Greenwich. 
Gohanzy, <>r Fairfield, seems to have been highly favoured during 
Whitefields stay, while of (Greenwich, lie ~ :i y-- »1 one time, none 

Were UiMVed. Ill Sept I'llllnT, L746, lie preaehed three SernmUS 

there tu large and affected auditories. Finley laboured with sea] 
and success in Deerfield and the adjoining congregations. 

Hunter drew many from Fairfield to him: <ui the death-; of their 

rs, Klmer and Evans, both Fairfield and Pilesgrove passed 
over to the New Side and settled Ramsey and Greenman. winter 
gave up Deerfield in 1 T « i < ►, and died, duly 28, 177">. 



506 DAVID BRAINERD. 



DAVID BRAINERD, 

Born of a respectable family at Haddam, Connecticut, April 
20, 1718, was early left an orphan. Losing his father at the age 
of eight, he was terrified at the thoughts of death, but soon 
turned from the care of his soul, esteeming religion a melancholy 
business that destroyed his eagerness for play. At thirteen, — 
awakened he knew not how, — his concern was increased by the 
prevalence of a mortal sickness. The death of his mother, in 
March, 1732, exceedingly distressed him. Frequent, constant, 
and sometimes even fervent, in prayer, he took delight in reading 
pious books, especially "Janeway's Token for Children." At 
times he was much melted in the duties of religion, and, being re- 
markably dead to the world, his thoughts were almost wholly em- 
ployed about his soul's concern. In his fifteenth year, he went 
to Haddam, and resided there till nineteen, still attending secret 
prayer, though much addicted to the company and the amuse- 
ments of the young. His conviction abated. Having gone to 
Durham, to work his farm, love of study prompted him to seek a 
liberal education ; and, at twenty, he entered on a course of learn- 
ing in the house of Mr. Fiske, the minister of Haddam. He 
finished his preparation for college with his brother, the minister 
of Eastbury. Naturally inclined to melancholy, he was now 
regular in life, sober in deportment, and settled on a self-righteous 
foundation. 

Walking out for prayer, of a Sabbath morning in the winter of 
1738, it pleased God to give him of a sudden such a view of his 
danger and of the divine wrath, that he stood amazed. He 
envied the birds and the beasts their happiness in not being ex- 
posed, like him, to eternal misery. Day by day mountains 
seemed to obstruct his hoping for mercy, and the work of con- 
version seemed so great that he thought he should never be the 
subject of it. Spending a day in February, 1739, in fasting and 
almost continual cries that his eyes might be opened to see the 
evil of sin and the way of life in Jesus Christ, God was pleased 
to make to him a considerable discovery of his heart : his en- 
deavours that day became a means of showing him in some 
measure his helplessness. One night, while walking alone, such 
a view of his sin opened to him that he feared the ground would 
cleave and become his grave. These many disappointments, dis- 
tresses, and perplexity, put him in a horrible frame of con- 
testing with the Almighty, — with inward vehemence and virulence 
blaming his ways of dealing with man. "I found great fault 



DAVID BRAIXERD. 507 

•with the imputation of Adam's sin to his posterity, and wished 
for some other way of salvation than by Jesus Christ. Being 
sensible of the necessity of deep humiliation in order to a saving 
interest in Christ, I used to set myself to produce in my heart the 
convictions requisite in such a humiliation. Scores of times I 
vainly imagined myself humbled and prepared for mercy." In 
this distressed, bewildered, and tumultuous state, he was espe- 
cially irritated with the strictness of the divine law, and with the 
Fact that faith was the condition of salvation. He could not find 
out what faith was, nor what it was to believe and come to Christ. 
" I could not bear the divine sovereignty." At last, on Friday, 
July 10, 1739, seeing all was in vain, he was brought to a stand, 
as being totally lost. The tumult was now quieted, and he was 
somewhat eased of the distress he had felt in struggling with a 
of himself and of the divine sovereignty. He saw that, in 
all his performances, he had regard to nothing but his self- 
interest: his duties were nothing but self-worship and horrid abuse 
of God. 

On the next Sabbath, while walking in a thick grove and en- 
deavouring to pray, though in a very senseless, stupid frame, un- 
speakable glory opened to his soul in a new, inward appre- 
hension or view of God. "I stood still, wondered, and admired. 
It was widely different from all the conceptions 1 ever had of God 
or things divine. My Bonl rejoiced with joy unspeakable to see 

such a God; and I was inwardly pleased and Satisfied that ho 

should be over all for ever and ever." So captivated was he with 

[Cellency, loveliness, greatness, and other perfections of God, 

that he had no thought at first of his own salvation, or that there 

ich a creature as himself. u The way of salvation opened 
with such infinite wisdom, suitableness, and excellency, thai 1 won- 

I should ever think of any other way. Could 1 have been 

in any Other way, my whole soul would have refused it. I 

Wondered thai all the world did not see and Comply with this way 

of salvation entirely by the righteousness of Christ. 

"'Stoddard's Guide to Christ 1 was, 1 trust, in the hands of 
be happy mean- of my conversion." 

"While Spending some time in prayer and self-examination, the 
• p .-hined into my heart that 1 enjoyed the full assurance of 
hi- EaVOUr for that time, and wafl unspeakably refreshed with hea- 
venly enjoyment 

lb' entered Vale College in September. IT-".'.', and enjoyed con- 
siderable sweetness in religion all the winter, though ambition in 

i IldieS greatly Wronged the activity and rigOUr of his spiritual 

life. The- ClaSS Was the largest that hail ever entered the insti- 
tution, and he stood at the bead of it. An attack of measles, in 

the winter, made him de-pair of life; and in AugUSt, elo-e appli- 



508 DAVID BRAINERD. 

cation to study compelled him to go home in great weakness. He 
did not return to New Haven till after Whitefield's visit. His old 
temptation, ambition in study, sunk him into coldness and dul- 
ness. The Great Awakening began in February, 1741, and he 
was much quickened and abundantly engaged in religion. 

On his death-bed he destroyed so much of his diary as reached 
from January, 1741, till April 14, 1742, because of the " im- 
prudences and indecent heats" into which he was carried by "a 
tincture of the intemperate and indiscreet zeal" then prevalent. 

Gilbert Tennent laboured with great success among the students 
and the citizens. When he left, many people followed him to Mil- 
ford. The scholars were fined for going without leave ; and 
Brainerd was accused of having said, he "wondered the rector 
did not fear to drop down dead for doing so." In the spring, he 
went over, with Buel, to Southold, and witnessed the glorious dis- 
plays of grace. 

In the summer, Davenport came to New Haven ; and many who 
had long disliked the preaching of the pastor, Mr. Noyes, — both 
his doctrine and his manner, — now withdrew, and formed a new 
congregation. The rector, Mr. Clap, disliked the preaching, and 
took unwearied pains afterwards to form a church in the college, 
that he and the students might enjoy ministrations more orthodox 
and attractive. But he was a foe to all violations of order ; and 
Brainerd incurred his displeasure for going once, when forbidden, 
to the separate meeting. 

Being alone, with some companions in the hall, after the 
tutor (Mr. Whittlesey) had been unusually pathetic in his prayer, 
Brainerd was overheard by a passer-by to say, " He has no more 
grace than this chair." This reached the rector; and he extorted 
from those who were present the information as to the person 
of whom Brainerd spoke. Being required to make a public con- 
fession, and to humble himself before the whole college, in the hall, 
for what he had said in private conversation, he would not comply, 
and was expelled. 

This was in the winter of 1742 ; and he went to prosecute his 
theological studies with Mills, of Ripton, under the supervision of 
the neighbouring ministers, Cooke, of Stratford, Graham, of 
Southbury, and Bellamy, of Bethlehem. In May, he spread the 
treatment he had received from the rector and tutors before a 
council of ministers at Hartford, and they entreated the college 
authorities to restore him to his former privileges, but without suc- 
cess. The Association met at Danbury, July 29, and, having exa- 
mined him as to his learning and experience in religion^ licensed 
him to preach. His first sermon was from 1 Pet. iv. 8, and was 
delivered at Southbury. " Had much of the comfortable presence 
of God in the exercise ; seemed to have power to get hold of the 



DAVID BRAINERD. 509 

hearts of the people." Being forced hy the people to preach at a 
place near Kent, .some Indians cried out in great distress, and all 
appeared greatly concerned. " Hired an Englishwoman to keep 
a kind of school among them." 

On the 17th of August, he began to see that he had erred in 
many things. '* It cuts and wounds my heart to think how much 
self-exaltation, spiritual pride, and warmth of temper have inter- 
mingled with my endeavours to promote God's work. Sometimes 
1 long to lie down at the feet of opposers and confess what a poor 
imperfect creature I am." He was regarded as one of "the most 
disorderly strolling preachers," and had to use much care to 
imprisonment at New Haven for having preached to the 
Separata Society there. lie came into the town, secretly, in the 
evening. Preaching, in October, at West Suffield, with clearness, 
power, and pungency, " there was some noise and tumult in the 
assembly that 1 did not well like, and I endeavoured to bear public 
testimony against it with moderation and mildness through the 
current of my discourse." 

" I cried to God to enable me to bear testimony against the 
fal-e appearances of religion, which breed confusion and hinder 
the progress of vital piety." At Canterbury, where there had 
been a division, he preached in the meeting-house: M exhorted the 
people to love one another, and not to set up their own frames as 
a standard by which to try all their brethren." He went to see 
the Rev. Solomon Williams, of Lebanon, who is supposed to have 
had much influence in convincing Davenport of his errors, and 
who wrote against the book id" his kinsman, Jonathan Edwards, on 
re<|uiring a profession of personal piety as a term of sacramental 
Communion. "Spent several hours with him; was greatly de- 
lighted with his serious, deliberate, impartial way of discourse 
about religion." 

Al N'\v London, January 28, 1743, "Found some fallen into 
extravagancies, carried away with a false zeal and bitterness. 

God had not taught them with briers and thorns to be of a kind 

disposition towards mankind." A few weeks after, Davenport 
came, and foolishly made a bonfire of some pious books and gen- 
teel clothing. 

To Bellamv he said, February I. 171-'::. kk Last week I 

preached for Mr. Pish at Btonington. The Lord helped me to be 
all love there while 1 waa undermining false religion, so that, if 

they had any inclination to quarrel with me, he helped me to love 
them all to death. There \sas mueh fal-e zeal among them. BO 

iome began t<> separate from that dear man. II.' wantato 

i in these parts more than any man on earth. Indeed, I 

believe you might do service there, if the Lord Bhould help you to 
softness." 



510 DAVID BRAINERD. 

At Stonington, where there was also a rending of the church, 
he insisted on humility and steadfastness in keeping God's com- 
mands, and that we should not make our own frames the rule by 
which we judge others. " I felt sweetly calm, full of brotherly 
love, and never more free from party spirit. I hope some good 
will follow ; that Christians will be freed from false joy, party 
zeal, and censuring one another. A few days ago, the Lord 
let me feel as if I could rend heaven down on their heads if they 
would not come to God; and that showed me that, while I was 
warring against wild-fire because of that cursed pride there was in 
it, I might fall into an extreme that way. Oh, the Lord help us, 
or we shall wound the cause of God some way or other." 

In after years he said, "When God sets before me my past 
misconduct, especially any instances of misguided zeal, it sinks 
me into shame and confusion." "Longed to get on my knees and 
ask forgiveness of everybody that had ever seen any thing amiss, 
especially in my religious zeal." "Was grieved at the very 
thoughts of a fiery, angry, and intemperate zeal in religion ; 
mourned over past follies in that regard." 

These things serve to show, like the acknowledgments of Daven- 
port, how much man did to mar God's work, while yet most truly 
desirous of promoting his glory. 

He had loyg indulged the hope of being sent to the heathen 
afar off, and of seeing them flock home to Christ; but his disgrace 
at college seemed to render it impossible. While at New Haven, 
November 19, 1742, he received a letter from Pemberton, desiring 
him to come speedily to New York, to meet with the corre- 
spondents of the Scottish Society in relation to the Indians. 
" My mind was instantly seized with concern ; so I retired with 
two or three friends and prayed, and it was indeed a sweet time 
to me." Oppressed with the weight of the affair, but casting his 
burden on the Lord, he reached the city, November 24, and, the 
next day, " was examined of ray Christian experience, my ac- 
quaintance with divinity, and some other studies, in order to my 
improvement in that important affair of evangelizing the heathen. 
I was forced to go and preach to a considerable assembly, before 
some grave and learned ministers." 

Having now undertaken the missionary work, and thinking he 
should have no occasion among the Indians for the estate left him 
by his father, (though afterwards he found himself mistaken,) no 
way presented itself to his thoughts wherein he could do so much 
good with it as by educating a young man for the ministry. He 
selected " a dear friend," Nehemiah Greenman, of Stratford, ac- 
quainted him with his thoughts, and left him to consider of it till 
they met. He was soon put to learning, and was supported by 
Brainerd till the latter died, Greenman having gone through his 



DAVID BRAIXERD. 511 

third year. He was, for many years, the pastor of Pittsgrove, in 
West Jersey. 

His expectation was to be sent at once to the Forks of Dela- 
ware ; and he took leave of his friends as if never to meet them 
again on earth. In the evening of the Lord's day, December 26, 
he rode from New Haven to Branford, "after I had kneeled down 
and prayed with a number of dear Christian friends, in a very re- 
tired place in the woods. The next evening I preached from 
Matt. vi. 83, 'But aeek ye first,' with much freedom, sweet power, 
ami pungency: the presence of God attended our meeting. Oh, 
the sweetness, the tenderness, I felt in my soul! If I ever felt 
the temper of Christ, I had some sense of it now. Blessed be my 
God! I have Beldom enjoyed a more comfortable and profitable 
day than this." Yet this was the thing set foremost in the 
charges against Mr. Bobbins: "his earnestness in improving 
those strolling preachers that were most disorderly, more espe- 
cially in one meeting carried on at his own house by Messrs. 
Brainerd and huell." 

The Correspondents not wishing him to begin his labours in 
the winter, he spent, by request of the people of East Hampton, 
four weeks with them. 

While detained at Saybrook, he wrote to Bellamy, February 4, 
1T42-8:— 

" Dearest Brother : — 

"I received the line yon sent me from Branford with satis- 
faction, hut longed, if Divine Providence had permitted, to have 
seen yourself in the room of it. I hare been bo hurried of late, 
especially this week, while a friend from East Hampton ha- been 

Waiting for me, that J despaired of writing to yon before 1 h'l't 

the shore, having Bundry other letters to write of absolute 
jity. hut Divine Providence has given me this opportunity, 

for want of wind to sail; and oh that my time in writing these 

lines, and yours in reading them, may be spent for the glory of 
our blessed Lord! Almost my whole time, since 1 left Branford, 
has been spent in one continued Beries of spiritual distress ami 

inward 00nflict8, — though 1 have taken a journey to the eastward 
Since, in which 1 preached near twenty times, and BOmetimeS with 

divine softness, tenderness, and Borne degree of power and pun- 
gency. All the praise be to the Great Donor of every good and 
Eerfect gift! What I have endured in nay soul is perfectly 
eyond expression and tin' conception of any hut those that feel 

th«- same My distri wholly in privation ; ami, 

being unable to bear the distress, 1 am greatly inclined to amuse 
aiel diver', myself with some mean conversation, or something else, 
while my e m- for that criminal waste of time, and 



512 DAVID BRAINERD. 

for attempting to please myself with any thing short of God 

However, I am persuaded that God has done and will do me good 
by these trials. Nothing could ever have shown me so much of 
my insufficiency to make myself happy ; that our blessedness is 
not, in whole or in part, in and of ourselves, but from God alone, — 
as these dispensations have done. Nothing kills cursed pride and 
self-conceit like it. Nothing destroys a positive, confident, dog- 
matical spirit like it. So that, seeing we are dark and benighted 
and so infinitely vile and ignorant, instead of saying, ' I know,' 
and ' I know as sure as God lives,' &c, we shall be ready to say, 
* I don't know ;' ' I am a poor, dark, ignorant, benighted worm ;' 
'Oh, the Lord only knows.' Further: nothing makes me so 
tender towards all mankind in general, and towards those we hope 
to be our fellow-Christians in particular, though they and we 
differ widely in sentiment in some respects. This I have found 
by experience, to a remarkable degree of late, when I have had 
any dawn of divine light, so that I could even love a close, refined 
hypocrite, in the midst of all his nauseous actions. But, dearest 
brother, I am afraid of extremes everywhere. I fear whether you 
and I haven't been too dogmatical with regard to our own frames 
and feelings ; i.e. set them up as standards, at least too much to 
try others by, though I don't dare to say we have; but what I 
see more and more is, that God don't deal with all his children aa 

with me My soul has undergone inexpressible anguish 

yesterday and to-day; and the greatness of my work lies like 
mountains of lead upon me, though I had much rather go than 
tarry in these parts, and I'd rather die than go or stay; not be- 
cause death is desirable, as sometimes; but, dearest brother, if 
there is an object of pity on earth, and one that needs the prayers 
of all God's people, 'tis I, at present. Oh, therefore, pray for me, 
and tell your dear Christians to pray for me, that God would go 
with me and help me; for, at present, I don't desire the Indians 
should be converted, and yet I can't but go among 'em. 

" I expect to tarry four or five weeks at East Hampton, before I 
go to York. I should be very glad if you would write to Mr. Pem- 
berton and enclose a letter in his for me, and do take some care of 
brother Greenman, my scholar, for I can't hear a word from him, 
though I have wrote to him : and when you write to me at York, 
let me know where he is, and how he is. So, dear, dear brother, 
wishing you well for time and eternity, and hoping, after a few 
gloomy days more, to meet you in that world where sin and sorrow 
is eternally banished, I remain your benighted but very affection- 
ate brother, David Brainerd. 

" P.S. Dear Brother: — I long to see you more than any friend 
on earth, to converse with you of some dear topics. I wonder we 



DAVID BRAIXERD. 513 

should spend any time fruitlessly -when we were together, since 
now I would give any thing for one hour; but I know not but we 
must defer our communion and conference to the world of spirits. 
Lord, let our Bonis meet there ere long, and rejoice for ever and 
ever. Amen, and amen." 

At New York, the following letter from Bellamy was waiting for 
him, dated March 7, 1 7 4 ;J : — 

" Dearest Broth kr : — 

k - Last night 1 received yours from Seabrook. I read it, and 
loved yo» and pitied ynii, and felt a sweet mixture of grief, sor- 
row, and joy. You seein dearer to me than all the world besides. 
- not from want of love 1 did not come to see you from Bran* 
ford, nor is it from want of love I don't now set out for New York 

r you there; but, dear brother, we must travel far asunder, 
tin/, by your letter, 1 see 'tis thro 1 much the same wilderness. I 
hope we shall meet in the same blessed world at last. All your 

inflicts do and will work for your good; only keep on follow- 
ing after the Lord, and verily he will be kind: Isa. xl. 31. I have 
heard that there is a great inclination* among some of the Indians 
above Susquehanna, to . gospel, tho 1 at that place I hear 

much prejudiced, and are very surly. John Mae, the Mora- 
vian preacher, has been in all those parts, and, as he tells me, (I saw 
him last wick.) has Btrangely got into the hearts of the Indians. 
But, by-the-Way, I fear he is not sound in his principles: he would 
not talk very plain, hut, so far as I could learn. If Beemed to hold 

universal redemption, free-will, and that the essence of faith is a 
persuasion of the love of Christ; and he Beemed to he more taken 
with the blood ainl wounds of Christ than with Christ himself, and 
Beemed to talk a- if a law-work was not so very needful, hut all 
sinners have to do is to believe; hut yet 1 might misunderstand 
him. 1 can't hut hope he i> a Christian; and yet he talks just as 
Moravians that 1 .-;iu at New Sfork; hut, the truth i-. the 
rians puzzel me more than any people 1 ever met with. 
. ... In general, I have had a >»cn winter, loose from the 
■vs mi id. had clearness and freedom in writing; yet many times I have 
■ • deserted far day- together, that I wonder 1 should ever pre- 
tend t" write May God always be with as, and teach 

as, and humble us, and bring ua to his kingdom at last. I love yon 
Lord i uristiattt love yon dearly. ' 

On Saturday afternoon, March L0, Brainerd rode to Newark, 
and bad some tweetnesa in conversation with Burr, and in praj ins 
. r. I h- preached q< *H tad gave me u sistan 

ml enabled me to -p, ak with real tenderness, lore, and 



514 DAVID BRAINERD. 

impartiality. In the evening preached again, and of a truth God 
was pleased to assist a poor worm. I was enabled to speak with 
life, power, and passionate desire of the edification of God's people, 
and with some power to sinners." 

On Monday he went to Woodbridge, met with the Correspond- 
ents, who ordered him to go to a number of Indians, among whom 
was a hopeful prospect of success, at Kaunaumeek, " in the woods 
between Albany and Stockbridge." He wrote to Bellamy from 
Scaticoke, March 26, 1743 : — 

" My Dearest Brother : — 

"When I received your last letter in N. York, which I imme- 
diately answered, I was so wholly engrossed and confused that I 
wholly omitted mentioning some things you inquired of me, — viz.: 
when I expected to see New England again. I could not then 
have guessed that I should see any part of it so soon, as I find div. 
providence has brought me just to the borders of it. Div. provi- 
dence has strangely and unexpectedly changed my course, so that, 
instead of going among the Delaware Indians and Susquehannas, 
I am going to a tribe of 'em near Albany ; as nigh as I can learn, 
about 18 miles northeast fro'm Albany; for the Commissioners are 
not willing I should go among t'other Indians while they are sus- 
pected of contention with the English ; and, knowing I must come 
near, if^ not thro' some part of New England in my journey to the 
Indians near Albany, my soul long'd exceedingly to see you by the 
way, to communicate some things to you respecting religion, and to 
mourn with you over Zion, while labouring under so many unhappy 
burdens. 0, I long'd, I long'd for it exceedingly; but the Lord 
has disappointed me. May I learn to be resigned ! However, in 
hope to see you, tho' I was detained in the Jerseys and York till 
past 10 o'clock on Thursday last, before I could get out of the city, 
and tho' I had determined to be with these Indians at Scaticoke, 
near Kent, on the Sabbath, yet I hoped to ride so hard as to save 
a little time to see you. Aco' y I rode near 50 miles after 10 on 
Thursday, and yesterday designed to reach your place before I 
slept, which would have been something above 50 miles more, and 
so to have spent this day while noon with you, and then have come 
to N. Milford, and so to these Indians : but coming to Danbury 
yesterday, I heard that you were certainly set out for Boston, and 
so my heart sunk, and almost died, and I felt almost tired to death, 
and so tarried there last night, and to-day am come hither ; and 
the Lord knows all my sorrows of heart and heavy burdens. I 
never wanted to see yOu as I do now, to unbosom my griefs and 
fears to you respecting the cause of God. O, how is the interest 
of the Redeemer's kingdom attacked on every side ! God only 
knows what will be the issue and event of all the dark and threat- 



DAVID BRAINERD. 515 

ening aspects relating to religious matters. But, dear brother, let 
us watch and pray without ceasing, that God would enable us 

to conduct piously and judiciously in this difficult day I 

believe Antinomianism is likely to prevail in many parts of the 
land; but, dear brother, 'tis a tender point to touch; we had need 
be very cautious in thinking of and treating with others that don't 
feel as we do. Our frames and feelings alter and vary almost every 
day, so that I scarce know what to make of myself sometimes. 
Let us then, my dearest brother, put on utmost tenderness, love, 
meekne-s, humility, and candour; and love our enemies to death, 
(for that's a weapon they can't withstand,) and let us love all that 
don't think OB we do, even our enemies. »So shall we be the children 
of our heavenly Father : Matt. v. 45. 

"P.S. I shall not be above 18 or 20 miles from Mr. Sergeant. I 
should greatly rejoice if you could come up and see me; it might 
lv he much for OUT assistance and comfort in our way towards 
Zion : hut if not, I beseech you, dear brother, not to vex yourself 
so much with the blazing hypocrites, for they roar at you now very 
much. 

" The Lord be with you forever, and make you a pilgrim all the 
while you live in y" world." 

Sergeant was a native of Newark, a graduate of Yale, who com- 
menced his labours at Stockbridge in 1785; he had not much BUC- 
baving never acquired the use of the Indian language though 

he laboured assiduously. J lis advice was that Brainerd should 
master the language so far as to write it and understand it when 
Bpoken, hut should communicate with the people through an inter- 
preter, and teach the Indian children the English language by the 
aid of schoolmasters, lb' died in 17 J' 1 . 

The Indians 4 to whom Brainerd ministered lived about fivemilefl 
northwest of New Lebanon, on the road to Albany: the place is now 
called Brainerd'e Bridge, a toll-bridge having been built across the 
Kayaderosseras I hreek by ;i person of that name. The Indians dwelt 
in the meadow at some distance below tin- bridge. In L828 there 
were traces of their dwellings, orchard, and bnrying-plaoei The 

nearest white j pie spoke only Low Dutch; a Scottish Highlander 

e only person with whom Brainerd could converse. The 

Indians received him kindly, and wen- seriously attentive to his 

instructions; two appeared under oonoern, ami one told him. r/ri- 

vately, that her heart had cried Un08 BUS heard him fust. 1 1 is 
interpreter WSS an ingenious Indian, who had heeii taughi by Mr. 

nt, undent 1 both ESnglish end [ndian very well, and wrote 

* S. E. Dwight: Edwards's Works. 



516 DAVID BRAINERD. 

a good hand. To instruct himself he translated English discourses 
into Indian by the aid of an interpreter, as near verbatim as the 
sense admitted, and observed strictly how they use words, and what 
construction they will bear. He also composed several forms of 
prayer suited to their capacities and circumstances, and, translating 
them into their language, prayed with them in their own tongue ; 
by translating several psalms, "we were soon after able to sing in 
the worship of God." 

In June he visited the Correspondents, and they granted his 
request to set up a school, and appointed his interpreter the teacher. 
He then went to New Haven to effect a reconciliation with the 
rector, and soon after renewed the attempt. In the fall he attended 
the Commencement, and consulted Jonathan Edwards, whom he 
met for the first time : the Correspondents sent Burr to solicit that 
his degree might be given him. He prepared a most humble and 
ample acknowledgment. The authorities were so far satisfied that 
they offered to give him the degree if he would reside a twelve- 
month in the college. The Correspondents would not consent to 
this, and, though earnest application was made, the faculty would 
accept of nothing else. "I was witness," says Edwards, "to the 
very Christian spirit he showed at that time;" the trial was the 
greater, since, but for the displeasure of the heads of the college, 
he would have taken the highest honours. 

Burr wrote to him May, 16, 1743, "I rec d yours of Ap 1 5, 
which was refreshing to me. I bless God he gave you so much 
favour with Mr. Sergeant. I was not a little concerned about 
the entertainment you would meet with from him. 'Tis blessed 
news y* God inclines the hearts of y e Indians to receive and hear 
you. I pray and trust you may see y e fruit of your labours to 
your abundant rejoicing in the Lord. If God should make you 
instrumental in turning many of these poor benighted souls from 
darkness to light, how will it abundantly compensate for all the 
hardships and tryals you meet with ! My heart sometimes mourns 
for you on account of your outward difficulties ; but I have more 
reason to rejoice with you for the consolations of God, which are 
not small, I trust, to your souls. I wonder with you y* any Chris- 
tian sh d love the o ; and yet my foolish heart is often running after 
it, though it always gets a wound and a smart for it. that I 
was wholly dead to it, y* I might live only to God ! When will it 
once be ? D r Br., pray for me. 

"The ministers forbid my going to N. England, by reason of y e 
Presb y and Synod; and, some important affairs depending, by 
reason of something y l happened, I could not go before y e Synod, 
so can't be there for some time before Commence 1 . I shall write 
to rector and Mr. W — lsey ; so will rest of ministers. I doubt not 
of your having, a degree, but whether in this class is a question. 



DAVID BRAINERD. 517 

Br. Johnson, -who is here, scruples it. I shall use all my interest 
to have the tiling accomplisht, for I think 'tis of importance. 

"I long to see you. The Indian interpreter, I hope, will answer 
our end. If he will not, what shall we do? for I can hear of no 
other. If you don't come down before, don't fail being at Com- 
mence'. Then must be the time for your affair to be issued, 
when the trustees are together. I shall, God willing, meet you at 
2s. 1 1 \ then, or week before. May the Lord be ever with you! Let 
us meet daily at the throne of grace. And for the happy day 
when we shall meet in heaven, to spend an eternity in singing 
to him that loved us, and washed us in his own blood." 

To escape the confusion of living in a wigwam, he built a house 
for himself on a knolL lie could not procure bread within ten or 
fifteen miles: he made- cakes of Indian meal and fried them. He 
Buffered much by sickness, and by riding frequently in winter to 
ridge to pursue the study of the native language with Ser- 
geant. 

In March. 1744,* the Indians having removed to Stopkbridge, 

the Correspondents directed Brainerd to go to the Forks of Dela- 

. At Sheffield he met a messenger from East Hampton bearing 

a unanimous call for him. It was the fairest, pleasantest town OB 

the whole island, and one of its largest and most wealthy parishes. 

'"When I heard of the great difficulties of that place, I was much 
Concerned and grieved, and felt BOme desire to comply with their 
request." The people were unanimous in their desires to have him 
for their pastor, and fora long time continued their earnest endea- 
vour, to obtain him. 

The people of Millington, near his native place, sent their mes- 
r, very earnestly desiring his coming among them on proba- 
tion f.r settlement. "Resolved to go on still with the Indian 
affair." 

On the gth of May he came to Vi<hkill. and, crossing the I In 1- 
io&) reached Goshen the next day, and then across the woods, 
through a desolate and hideous country above New Jersey. He 

cane-, on the 10th, to a -e: i )< liu-n t of Irish and Low-Dutch people, 

called The Minnisinks, twelve miles above the Porks. 

On the 18th In' cams to Lakhauwootung, (Lehigh,) within the 

.and was respectfully received by the king, and preached 

of the summer at hi- house. This was near the settlements 

of Hunter, at Mount Bethel, and Craig, in Allen township. 

Amon- the h-idi were some that appeared sober and concerned 

* Tli.' i: ".. w. B I >. I'- ibo i. . d :; Lift) of Brainerd, lays that :it tin- time ii» 
pol.l in- Brainerd owned the Aral edition ol Baxtorf'e Hebrew L 

I at Ba I- in 1640. H ' I it with otter-skins, painted in the 

him ' • Jon 
.'. mdon. 



518 DAVID BRAINERD. 

about religion. After a fortnight spent with them and the Indians, 
he set out to meet the Presbytery of New York, at Newark. Hav- 
ing preached from Acts xxvi. 17, 18, and been examined on the 
usual course, and on his experimental acquaintance with religion, 
he was ordained on the 11th of June. Pemberton preached from 
Luke xiv. 23, and said, at the close, "We trust that you are a 
chosen vessel designed for extensive service in this honourable 
though difficult employment. We adore the God of nature, who 
has furnished you with such endowments as suit you to this im- 
portant charge. We adore the Great Head of the church for the 
nobler gifts and graces of his Spirit, by which we trust you are 
enabled to engage in this mission with an ardent love to God, with 
a disinterested zeal for the honour of Christ, and with tender con- 
cerns for the souls of a people that sit in darkness and the shadow 
of death. It is at the command of Christ that you go forth, who, 
by a train of surprising providences, has been preparing your way 
for this important embassy." The presbytery universally approved 
of his trials, and judged him uncommonly qualified for the work 
of the ministry. 

In the summer some of the Indians manifested serious concern, 
and continued, with diligence, affection, and becoming solicitude, to 
seek after salvation. In July, hearing of a number of Indians 
residing at Kanksesauchung, (Catasaqua,) he preached to them, and 
they invited him to come to their home on the Susquehanna, their 
temporary abode being on the Indian land between Biery's Bridge 
and Cherryville.* This invitation gave him great encouragement; 
and, after a journey to New England, he set out, in October, with 
" dear brother" Byram, the minister of Mendham, New Jersey, and 
made their way, for three days, over lofty mountains, deep valleys, 
and hideous rocks. His horse hung one of her legs in the rocks : 
nothing remained but to kill her and pursue his journey on foot. 
They reached Opeholkaupung, (Wapwallopen,f) visited the Indians 
in their house, and preached four days. The Indians gave up their 
hunting design, end listened attentively. 

On the way back, both he and Byram preached at the Irish set- 
tlement, where was a numerous congregation, and then returned to 
his dwelling. His abode was at Lower Mount Bethel, where his 
house still remained at the beginning of the present century: it 
was then called Hunter's settlement, and, on the records of New 
Brunswick Presbytery, Forks North, to distinguish it from Forks 
West, or Craig's settlement, now known as Allen township. In 
these places were Presbyterian congregations under the care of 

* Northampton county, Pennsylvania. 

-j- On the east side of the Susquehanna, above Berwick. The caving-in of the 
river-bank discloses remains of pottery, arrows, &c, indicating a large settle- 
ment. 



DAVID BRAINERD. 519 

New Brunswick Presbytery, which had been supplied for several 
years with frequent preaching. 

Ten miles from his house, on the east of the river, was Green- 
wich, where he occasionally preached. Once in December, in the 
intermission, he got among the bushes and cried to God for pardon 
of his deadness, and was in anguish and bitterness that he could 
not address souls with more compassion and tenderness. 

"Lord's Day, February 17. — Preached in the wilderness, on the 
sunny side of a hill, to a considerable assembly of white people, 
many of whom came near twenty miles, — from Kreidersville to 
Martin's Creek. Discoursed to them all day from John vii. 37; in 
the afternoon spoke with great freedom and fervency. I think I 
was scarce ever enabled to offer the free grace of God to perishing 
sinners with more freedom and plainness. Afterwards I was 
enabled earnestly to invite the children of God to come renewcdly 
to this fountain of the water of life, from whence they have hereto- 
fore derived unspeakable satisfaction. There were many tears in 
-.•liibl v ; and I doubt not but that the Spirit of God was there, 
Convincing poor sinners of their need of Christ.'' 

hi .March he made another short visit to New England * and on 



* To Ilcv. Mr. Sergeant) fan l'eahody's Life of Brainerd: — 

"Woouduuy, (Conn.,) 16th March, 171"). 

"Reverend and honoured Sir: — In November last, I attempted to Bend yon a line 

by Mr. Vim Schaiok, to inform yon of the state of affaire with as, and actually 

wrote : but, he Leaving New fork an hourejooner than 1 expected, 1 was disappointed 

And Dow I am in the greatest hurry, and can bat hint at things 1 would otherwise 

be a little more particalar in. As to my affairs here, 1 took a journey, last ( >o- 

tober, t" Susquehanna, and oontinued there Borne time, preaching frequently to the 

Indians, in a place called Opcholhatipung, about fifteen or twenty miles down the 

in the place yon formerly visited. I supposed I had some encouragement 

them, and 1 propose to visit them again, about the middle of next month, 

with leave ol Divine Providence, and think to spend most of the summer in those 

: 11 Then is one peculiar difficulty in the way; the 

land these Indians live upon belongs to the Sis Nations,—*.*., the Mohawks; and 

• doubtful if they will suffer a missionary to oome among their tribu- 

: I od their land". Vet tiii- difficulty, we hope, may be remove.! by the in- 

nnenec ■■! the Governor of Pennsylvania, who maintains a strict friendship with tho 

ons, whose a pendente have endeavoured to engage in 

this afl dr. May He who has the hearts of all men in hi- hands open their leans 

;ospel ! 

'■I have, this winter pa-t, hal BOOTS eninurairenient among the Indians of tho 

e tribe than sver before. \ rpirit of seriousness and oonoera has seemed to 

them, and many of them nave been rery attentive, and desiroui of 

Instruction. Bui 1 have also met with manydisoouj ■ that 1 Boaroely 

know what 1 fetl am nol discouraged, but still hope thai the day • >i' < i i \ ino 

p., wit !i dl oome, when tiny shall become :i willing people. 

••I long 1 I urol your affairs, sepeoially how tiling" are likely to turn out with 

up plan of a free boarding lonool, which Is an affair much npon my 

nldsi all my hi m nothing, whether it is likely to 

r D it 

••I ratty designed I ■— *>«fag oonsiderable towards promoting that 

-ign; but whether I shall he uble to glvs any thing, or whether it will ho 



520 DAVID BRAIXERD. 

his return met a number of ministers at Woodbridge, convened " to 
consult about the affairs of Christ's kingdom in some important 
articles," — the preliminaries, probably, to the formation of the 
Synod of New York. Soon after, he waited on the governor, in 
Philadelphia, to obtain leave to live at Susquehanna, most of the 
Indians having removed from the Forks. This journey gave him 
opportunity to join with Beatty in assisting Treat at the sacrament 
at Abingdon: "the assembly was sweetly melted by his preaching; 
scores were in tears ; there was a most amazing attention, and it 
was a sweet season to many." 

Early in May he travelled with his interpreter to the Susque- 
hanna, and went about a hundred miles up this river, as far as 
Shamokin, and preached to several tribes by different interpreters. 
Going down the river, he came to an island called Juniata, (Dun- 
can's Island,) where the Indians appeared more free from preju- 
dices against Christianity than any others. 

Weak and feeble, he soon after went to Neshaminy and assisted 
Beatty at the sacrament: on Saturday the crowded audience was 
melted while he preached. Towards the close of the administra- 
tion of the ordinance he discoursed to the multitude extempore, 
with great assistance in addressing sinners. The word was attended 
with amazing power ; perhaps hundreds in that great assembly, con- 
sisting of three or four thousand, were much affected, so that there 
was a great mourning. On Monday he preached with a good de- 
gree of clearness, and some warmth ; there was great attention and 
solemnity, and to God's people s^teet refreshment. 

Passing on to Maidenhead, he came to Cranberry to visit the 
Indians at Crosswicks. " My body was feeble, and my mind scarce 
ever so much discouraged about the conversion of the Indians as 
when I made my first visit to the Indians in New Jersey." Wed- 
nesday, June 19, 1745, he preached to a few women and chil- 



my duty to do so under present circumstances, I know not. I have met with several 
losses lately, to the value of £60 or £70 New England money. In particular, I broke 
my mare's leg last fall, in my journey to Susquehanna, and was obliged to kill her 
on the road, and I can't get her place supplied for £50. And I have lately moved to 
have a colleague or companion with me, for my spirits sink with my solitary cir- 
cumstances ; and I expect to contribute something to his maintenance, seeing his 
salary must be raised wholly in this country, and can't be expected from Scotland. 

"I sold my tea-kettle to Mr. Jonathan Woodbridge, and an iron kettle to Mr. T. 
W., both which amounted to something more than four pounds, which I ordered 
them to pay to you for the school. I hope you will use the money that way; if 
not, you are welcome to it for yourself. I desire my teapot and bed-ticking may be 
improved to the same purpose. 

"As to my blankets, I desired Mr. Woodbridge to take the trouble of turning 
them into deer-skins. If he has not done it, I wish he would, and send the skins 
to Mr. Hopkins, or, if it might be, to Mr. Bellamy. Please to remember me to 
Madam and all friends. I am, in greatest haste, 

"Your obedient, humble servant, 

"D. Beainerd." 



DAVID BRAINERD. 521 

dren: the women readily set out, and travelled ten or fifteen miles 
to give notice of his preaching next day. Numbers were gathered : 
he preached twice. Ob Saturday the power of God evidently at- 
tended the word: thirty were present, and several were brought 
under great concern, and wept. Having preached on the first three 
days of the week, they desired him to preach twice; and he did so 
on Wednesday and [Thursday, on the Sabbath and Monday. This 
encouraging readiness to receive instruction, seems to have been the 
effect of the conviction which one or two of them met with at the 
Forks, and who had endeavoured to show their friends the evil 
of idolatry. The like happy appearances cheered him at the 
Forks, and on the 21st of July he baptized his interpreter and his 
wife: he had been awakened while hearing Brainerd preach to the 
whites, in July, 1744. He was about fifty years old, and was 
gamed Moses Finds Fautaury. 

Returning to Crosswicks, he found that the labours and endea- 
vours of William Teniieiit had much promoted the convictions of 
the people. A surprising concern appeared under Brainerd'a first 

Bfinnon: out of twenty adults, scarce two had dry eyes. 

Fifty persona accompanied him to the administration of the sacra- 
ment at Cranberry, ami were much affected; but especially on the 
Monday '"they were Universally engaged about their soul's con- 
cent. One woman obtained comfort." 

( )n Tim day, there was nothing remarkable but their attention, till, 
near the close of his discourse, -carcely three in forty could restrain 

nd bitter cries: they seemed in an agony to obtain an im 
in Christ* "The more 1 invited them to come to Christ, the more 
their distress was aggravated, feeling themselves unable to come.'' 

The next day. aome fell Hat on the ground, crying incessantly fol 
mercy: persons from remote places, as soon as they came, were 

awakened. 

<)n the afternoon of the day following, the power of God seemed 
to descend on the assembly like a mighty, rushing wind, bearing 
down all before it. Old people and little children, the boaster and 
the drunkard, the oonjurer ami the murderer, were bowed down 
with concern together. McKnight, of Cranberry, was present, and 

• While Mr. Brainerd urged upon them the absolute nec< 
of a speedy <-l >sure ^i'' 1 Christ, they were utterly unable I • 
ceil their distress. This prompted the pious to gather the 
i i congregation together, who soon seemed to be in the 
ctremity, begging for mercy, and some unable to rise. 
A white pe . I trust, by means of it. Bavingly 

brought to < Ihrist. [nd I. kj extraordinary was the concern, that 

1 am ready to conclude it might have been suffioienl to convince 

an atheiSt that the Lord \s .i s there." Through the week he 

i »ly, and each day was a <\.>y of the Son of man. 



522 DAVID BRAINERD. 

On the Sabbath some of the white people could no longer be idle 
spectators : a great concern spread through the whole assembly. 

He now busied himself in putting in execution a plan for settling 
the Indians together in a body, for their advantage in receiving 
instruction. On the 25th of August, he baptized fifteen adults and 
ten children. 

At the Forks there appeared a remarkable work of the Divine 
Spirit among the Indians generally. He then journeyed to Sha- 
mokin, a large town of the Delawares, and downward to Juniata 
homeward, having little encouragement. In November, he bap- 
tized six adults and eight children at Crosswicks. One woman was 
above eighty, and two of the men were above fifty years old. 

A sorcerer,* artful, able, profligate, gave him so much trouble 
that he thought it would be great favour to the design of gospel- 
izing the Indians if God would take him out of the way ; but it 
pleased Him to renew him unto repentance. 

He now had need to learn a third language : the Delaware was 
of no use to him in his new field. At his suggestion, the Corre- 
spondents laid out eighty-two poundsf New Jersey currency in clear- 
ing off the debts contracted by the Indians, lest their lands should 
be taken away by their creditors. The opposers now raised the 
cry that Brainerd was a papist, supported by the Scottish friends 
of the Pretender to stir up the Indians to sedition and murder. 
On the 27th of April, 1746, he administered the Lord's Supper to 
twenty-three persons : there was a sweet, gentle, and affectionate 
melting. They soon after removed to their lands at Cranberry, and 
were molested with claims unjustly set up by men in power. 

"June 19, 1746. — This day makes up a complete year from the 
first time of my preaching to the Indians in New Jersey. What 
amazing things has God wrought in this space of time for this 
poor people ! What a surprising change appears in their tempers 
and behaviours ! morose and savage pagans transformed into 
agreeable, affectionate, and humble Christians ! their drunken 
and heathen howlings turned into devout and fervent praises to 
God ! It is remarkable that God has so continued and renewed his 
showers of grace here ; so quickly set up his visible kingdom among 

* Peabody's Brainerd. 

f One hundred pounds Lad been collected to pay the debts of the Indians, to 
build a school-house, pay the teacher, and buy books for the children: — 

£ s. d. £ s. d. 

New York 23 10 2 

Neshaminy and places adjacent 14 5 10 

Freehold 12 11 

Abingdon and New Providence 10 5 

Elizabethtown 7 5 

Kingston 5 11 

Freehold Dutch Congregation.. 4 14 8 
Newark 4 5 



Shrewsbury and Shark River 3 5 
New Brunswick Dutch Cong. 3 5 

Jamaica, Long Island 3-0 

Woodbridge 2 18 2 

Middleton Dutch Cong 2 

Connecticut Farms 1 18 

Morristown 15 



DAVID BRAISERD. 523 

those people, and so smiled upon them in relation to their acquire- 
ment of knowledge human and divine. There is still an appear- 
ance of the power of divine grace, a desirable degree of tender- 
ness, religious affection, and devotion, in our assemblies. In eleven 
months, thirty-eight adults and thirty-seven infants were baptized. 
They have inquired concerning the doctrines, to obtain light and 
insight into them, and have manifested a clear understanding of 
them. They took pains and appeared remarkably apt in learning to 
sing psalm-tunes, and are able to sing becomingly in the worship of 
God." They were never put to any more trouble for their debts. 
Some charged Brainerd with striving to set them on murdering the 
whites, and others attributed his compassion to the most abomina- 
ble and vile motives. " From a view of these things, I have had 
eeeasion to admire the wisdom and goodness of God in providing 
so full and authentic a commission for the undertaking and carry- 
ing on of this work." 

Tennent attested Brainerd's narrative. " I have been much 
Conversant with the Indians at their own place and in my own 
parish, where they generally convene for worship in his absence. 
Their conversation hath often refreshed my soul. It is my opi- 
nion that the change in them has been wrought by God, through a 
char, heart-affecting sense of its being their reasonable service." 
McKnight said, "I have frequently beheld with pleasing wonder 
what I am inclined to believe were the effects of God's almighty 
t accompanying his own truths. As far as I am capable of 
judging, they may be proposed as examples of piety and godliness 
to all the white people around them." 

Amid these glorious scenes, his outward man was perishing un- 
aware to him. lie administered the eommunion for the third time 
» flock on the 18th of July. Thirty-one Indians partook. Most 
of them were sweetly melted and refreshed : there was scarcely an eye 

dry when he took off the linen and showed them the symbols of the 

broken body. The afternoon was a season of much enlargement 

ami tender:. • •• God crowned the assembly with his presence." 

In his last journey to the Susquehanna, he went to Philadelphia 

and across the country through the white settlements, to avoid the 

huge mountains and hldeOUS IfilderneSfl of the nearest route. llav- 

1 'IVcat in the sacrament at Charlestown, he went with 

six of his people on to PaxtOQ and up the river to Shaniokin, 
where things appeared as encouraging :is at first at CrosswickSi 
Il< went m far as Great [aland, now Lockhaven; and, having to 
• at night, ami being without an axe, he climbed a young pine- 
and with his knife lopped off the branches for a bui Iter from 
the dew. Bis linen was wringing wet with sweat in the night, and 
he awoke, scarcely able to sit up. 

Neither at the Delaware town nor among the BhawnOCS had ho 



524 DAVID BRAISTERD. 

any encouragement ; but among the former a few appeared affected. 
The increase of his disorder prevented his staying ; and he returned 
home so exhausted that he was no longer able to keep a regular 
diary. Reaching Elizabethtown on his way to New England, he 
was so prostrated that he was obliged to remain through the winter 
at Dickinson's house. Four months passed before he was able to 
ride so far as Newark : he was sinking with cough, fever, and 
asthma, having neither appetite nor digestion. On Friday, 
March 20, he walked among his people, inquired about their state 
and concerns, and, when they assembled, explained and sung a psalm. 
This was his last interview with them, though he knew it not. 

The Correspondents sent for his brother John to take care of his 
congregation in his absence. He came, and Brainerd assisted at 
his examination by the Presbytery of New York. Setting out for 
New England, he reached Northampton apparently improved, but 
in confirmed and incurable consumption. Edwards found him 
remarkably sociable, pleasant, and entertaining in his conversation, 
solid, savoury, and very profitable, meek, modest, humble, and with- 
out affectation. Even in asking a blessing or returning thanks, 
there was something remarkable to be observed in the manner and 
matter of the performance. He generally made it one petition in 
his prayer in the family that we might not outlive our usefulness. 

Riding being recommended to him, he went to Boston, accompa- 
nied by Edwards's daughter, Jerusha, then in her eighteenth year, 
to whom he was engaged to be married. Soon after he came there, 
he was brought so low by the breaking of ulcers and by fever as to 
be almost speechless ; but he was not idle or useless. The Com- 
missioners of the London Society for Propagating the Gospel con- 
sulted him about disposing of Dr. Daniel Williams's legacy, and 
intrusted to him the selection of two missionaries to go to the Six 
Nations. Others gave Bibles for his Indians, and in many ways 
testified their love to the heathen. 

He met with the Rev. Andrew Croswell, who maintained the ex- 
tremest notions that had been advanced in the Revival, in his de- 
nunciation of Dickinson's " Display of Grace," and in a pamphlet, 
" What is Christ to me if he is not mine?" He claimed that the 
essence of saving faith and the first act of it was the belief that 
Christ has died for me in particular. In the presence of several 
persons, in a long conference with Croswell, he mentioned that the 
faith defined by him had nothing of God in it, nothing above na- 
ture, nothing above the power of devils, and was only a delusion.* 

On his return to Northampton, he was able only to ride sixteen 
miles a day : he grew weaker and weaker. He had the pleasure 

* Croswell replied in print that be honoured Brainerd as highly as those who 
canonized him, but that he honoured also the great company who "were in Christ 
before him," and who savoured not tne new definitions broached at Northampton. 



DAVID BRAIXERD. 525 

of having his brother John come to him, and of having the Coro- 
ners in Boston allow two hundred pounds to support another 
teacher among his people. He wrote to Byram on the subject of 
tin.- examining and Licensing of candidates. "Oh that God would 
ii 1 Bucceed that letter ! Oh that God would purity the sons of 
Levi, that his glory may be advanced !" Towards the close, his dis- 
temper preyed on his vitals, in an almost constant discharge of puru- 
lent matter, by mouthfula, with much distress and pain. Delightful 
if heavenly things refreshed him. k ' Soon shall I see the Bible 
i ; the mysteries in it and in God's providence will all be un- 
folded." In broken whispers, he -aid, "He will come, he will not tarry; 
I shall soon be in glory. 1 shall soon glorify God with the angels." 
He revived; and, the next day, his brother John, who had re- 
turned to New Jersey on important business, came to him. "My 
dear brother! I love him the best of any creature living!" He was 
affected and refreshed with seeing him. After a day of unutter- 
_ my through bodily distress, amid much fear of dishonouring 
1 y impatience, he had. late in the night, much proper and pro* 
fkable discourse with his brother concerning his mission. At 6 

ii Friday, Oct. 9, 1747. he died, in his thirtieth year. 

rtly before him, his Bister, Mrs. Spencer, died; his brother 

Israel died in the next .January, while preparing for the mini-try; 
Jerusha Edwards died Feb. 14, 1748, after an illness of live days, 

ii d by Brainerd a very eminent saint, fitted to deny herself 
I beyond any young woman he knew. 
Edwards* describee him as a singular instance of a ready inven- 
tion, natural eloquence, easy, flowing expression, sprightly appro- 
I in, quick discernment^ very Btrong memory, of a very pene- 
I is, close, dear thought, and piercing judgment. He 

greal baste for learning) and excelled in it. To extraordinary 
knowledge of men and things, to uncommon insight into human 
nature, was joined a power beyond most nun of communicating 
his thoughts and of adapting himself to those he would instruct 
ami counsel. For the pulpit his gifts were extraordinary: his 
manner clear, instructive, nervous, natural, moving. In prayer, 
he was almost inimitable. He excelled in conversation, being 
. free, entertaining, profitable. In hi- knowledge of theo- 

ae was an extraordinary divine, with uncommon ability de- 
fen ling truth and confuting • 

•■ Hon -ii i • bl I ■•■'• i| I i^ wort how get 

"Verily I say unto you, wl this gospel -hall be preached 

i I that he hath il • .-hall be -p..Leu 

r a memorial of him." 

tbliihed 
in Bog] 



526 WILLIAM DEAN. 



WILLIAM DEAN 

Was probably educated at the Log College. The first notice of 
him is on the records of New Brunswick Presbytery, Aug. 3, 1741, 
when he was taken on trials. He was licensed, Oct. 12, 1742, and 
was sent to Neshaminy and the Forks of Delaware. The Lehigh 
was formerly called the West Branch of the Delaware, and the ter- 
ritory bounded by the two rivers and the Kittatinny Hills was long 
known as the Forks. It was inhabited by the Lenni Lenape, or the 
Delawares, and probably by other tribes: their cabins and cultivated 
patches did not deter the Proprietors from putting up large tracts 
of it as prizes in a lottery, besides conveying thousands of acres 
to William Allen, of Philadelphia. Two settlements were made in 
1735 or '36, the one on the West Branch being called Craig's, 
and the one on the North Branch, Hunter's Settlement. The 
people were from Ulster ; and at the second meeting of New Bruns- 
wick Presbytery, they presented their case, and Gilbert Tennent 
was directed to go to them in the fall. Campbell and Robinson were 
soon after sent, and, May 26, 1743, the Forks presented a call to 
Dean. He declined it, and was appointed to supply there and at 
Cape May ; at the same time, at the request of Newcastle Presby- 
tery, he was sent to the Forks of Brandywine and Pequea. 

In the fall he was sent to Greenwich, in West Jersey, and, in 
Oct. 1744, to Cohanzy and the Forks of Delaware. 

In the next year he went with Byram, of Mendham, into Au- 
gusta county, Virginia : a great awakening attended their labours, 
and continued till 1751. He was ordained, before May, 1746, pas- 
tor of the Forks of Brandywine : three acres were conveyed to him 
for the use of his congregation, and a meeting-house erected. In 
May, 1747, a call was sent for him to the synod from Timber Ridge 
and the Forks of James River: the presbytery were directed to 
meet and consider whether it should be put in his hands. 

He died, July 9, 1748,* aged twenty-nine, and lies in the grave- 
yard at Brandywine Manor. Daviesf confirms the testimony 
recorded on his tomb, that he was an active, zealous, faithful 
minister : he laments his early death, and speaks of him and Robin- 
eon as our most useful ministers. 



* Dr. J. N. C. Grier's Historical Discourse at Forks of Brandywine. 
f Davies to Bellamy. 



JACOB GREEN. 527 



JACOB GREEN 

WAfl born* at Maiden, Massachusetts, Jan. 22, 1722, (O.S.,)and, 
losing his father in his second year, removed when a child with his 
step-father to Killingly, Conn. He had a good mother, who care- 
folly trained him in the fear of God: many were his serious impres- 
sions in ln.yhood, but especially at the age of seventeen, during the 
dreadful prevalence of the throat-distemper in 1738. He returned to 
tchusetts soon after, and began to study the languages. Falling 
into the society of some young men who met for prayer, he joined 
with them ; and, to his surprise, the minister propounded him for 
admission to the Lord's table, though he had no comfortable sense 
of pardon. Entering Harvard College in July, 1740, he devoted 
himself assiduously to study; he was charmed with "Whitefield, and 
followed him to Leicester, approving all he did, yet not awakened 
to any feeling of his Lost condition, and buoyed ap with favourable 
judgment of his state. Gilbert Tennent preached in the college 
hall at the close of January, 1741, on a false hope: he was over- 
came With a view of his lost condition, and, retiring to the w Is, 

heard a man in distress, praying for mercy. The next day Ten- 
Dent preached three times in Cambridge, and his mind was deeply 
le 1. About two months after, he began to obtain clear views 
of Christ and the gospel; nothing seeming so much to relieve Ids 
troubled spirit as tie- words, "Who of God is made unto us right* 

eousnees, wisdom, Banctification, and redemption." On graduating, 

in 1711, he taught School at Sutton, MaSS., and, at the solicitation 

of Whitefield, consented to go to the Orphan House in Georgia. 
At ESlizabethtown, being released from his engagement, he put him- 

M-lf, by the advice of Dickinson, under the care of New York 

ytery, and was licensed, Sept. 171"-. He was soon called to 
Hanover, and was ordained in November, L746. 

Be married Anna Strong, of Brookhaven, Long Island, in the 

lext year. Ou her death, in 17.">7, he was lunch "stirred up" to per- 
form bifl work more BCaloUSly and faithfully. His second wife was 

Elisabeth, daughter of the Rev, John Pierson, of Woodbridge. 

in 1750, the congregation of South Hanover, formerly called 
Bottle Hill, now Madison, I; and a oew meeting-house 

was erected on Hanover Neck, and another a1 Parsippany. Ho 
confined hi- labours to Hanover in 1 7 • »7 . At this time he was 
elected Vice-President of the College, ami for a few months was 
nt the head of the institution. The support of a large family led 

* Account »f Liiii- i by hla ion in the Christian Advocate. 



528 JACOB GREEN. 

hmi to engage in the practice of medicine, and he continued it for 
thirty years, conceiving that less than any other worldly business 
it took him off from his appropriate work. 

He was diligent in catechizing, in endeavouring to promote piety 
in the young, and to encourage heads of families to guide their 
households in the good old way. He had been led by Dickinson 
and Burr to adopt the method of admitting to the sacraments all 
who seemed desirous of leading a godly life : the reading of Watts 
and Edwards on the Terms of Communion changed his views, and 
he,* first of all our ministers, took his stand that only those who 
were hopefully pious should be received into church-membership. 
The Presbytery of New York asked him to give them in a sermon 
his views on Covenanting. He published a "View of the Consti- 
tution of the Jewish Church," embodying his opinions on that 
point. 

His labours were without much remarkable success till 1764 : he 
"shared in his own soul a small part of that blessing," and was 
unwearied in efforts to promote the good work. In 1774, he was 
again honoured to win many souls. 

On the breaking out of the war of Independence, he was fore- 
most in his country's cause, and, against his will, was elected to the 
Provincial Congress. He was chairman of the committee which 
drafted the State Constitution. A series of articles from his pen, 
signed Eumenes, against a paper currency, drew on him much oblo- 
quy; and his sermon at the Continental fast, on "The Acceptable 
Fast," roused the slave-holders of Morris county to come to his 
house with threats and insults. 

About this time he grew dissatisfied with the hinderances in the 
way of supplying our vacancies : — " firstf we make them gentlemen, 
and then ministers:" he proposed to Bellamy to establish two 
schools, one in New Jersey, and one in Connecticut, for educating 
men up to a certain point in languages and philosophy, and then 
licensing them. He wished to imitate the Baptist way, that our 
growing country might not be left unblessed with sound doctrine 
and firm discipline. Dissatisfied^ with the requirement of the 
synod that students should study divinity two years after obtain- 
ing a diploma, and that ministers should keep a register of births, 
baptisms, &c, and with their practice of dissolving pastoral rela- 
tions to place men at the head of the college, he withdrew from the 
Presbytery of New York. Grover, of Parsippany, Lewis, of War- 
wick, Orange county, New York, and Bradford, who married Eliza- 
beth Green, also withdrew; and, May 3, 1780, they formed Morris 
County Presbytery, "as we consider ourselves, in a scriptural 



* Macwhorter and Caldwell : in Bellamy Papers, f Letter to Bellamy, 1774. 
J Letter to New York Presbytery, on withdrawing : MS. records. 



NATHANIEL TUCKER — DAVID BROWN. 529 

sense, Presbyterians." He disliked the Congregationalism of New 
England as much as the Scottish mode of Prcsbyterianism. 

His people adhered to the presbytery, and retained, by the advice 
of that body, their aged, honoured pastor. He published, in a quarto 
pamphlet, "A View of a Christian Church, and Church Govern- 
ment, representing the Case of the New Presbytery." He died of 
influenza, after a short illness, May 24, 1790. A revival of reli- 
gion* was then in progress, but so noiseless that the neighbouring 
ministers did not know of it till they came to his funeral. Thirty 
persons, the gleanings of the harvest, came after his death to his 
son, Dr. Green, to seek spiritual direction, and to lament that they 
had not turned at his reproof while he was yet with them. 

lie published sermons on "The Nature of Natural and Moral 
Inability,"' "The Sins of Youth Visited with Punishment in Sub- 
Beqnent Life," and "A Help to Heads of Families." An active, 
devout man, he did much to enstamp on the community a high 
moral and religious character. "An instructive, plain, searching, 
practical preacher, a watchful, laborious pastor, he was ever intent 
on some plan for the glory of God and the salvation of his people, 
and, by the divine blessing, was happily and eminently successful." 



NATIIANAEL TUCKER, 

BOBB in Milton, Massachusetts, and graduated at Harvard in 
1744. Brainerd was present at his ordination by New York Pres* 
bytery, April '.>, 1717. Edwardsf speaks of him as a worthy, pious 
young gentleman, having made his acquaintance shortly after 
Braineras death. Returning from a visit to his friends at Milton, 

he was taken lick at Stratlield, Connecticut, and died there in De- 
cember, 1747. 



DAVID BROWN, 



"A ftfnrcsTBB of the gospel from North Britain, being admitted 
a member of the Presbytery of Newcastle, took hi- place among 
oa" in the Synod of Philadelphia in May, L748. He returned to 

ind during the year. 

* Dr. Green, in SpragueV I ...<. f Life of Brainerd. 

84 



>30 JAMES CAMPBELL. 



JAMES CAMPBELL 

Was born in Campbelton-on-Kintyre, in Argyleshire, and came 
to America in 1730. He was probably licensed by Newcastle 
Presbytery in 1735, and was "well received" by Philadelphia 
Presbytery, May 22, 1739. He spent the summer at Newtown 
and Tehicken, and on the 18th of September, the latter place, by 
Francis Williamson and John Or, their commissioners, asked for 
his services. The presbytery granted their request ; but he, "after 
many struggles with himself, told the synod, in 1739, that he was 
unconverted, and dared not preach till he was born again. He 
had been preaching four years, and was a regular, moral liver, and 
esteemed a very good man. Within these few months he was con- 
vinced of sin, and that he knew nothing experimentally of Jesus 
Christ, though he had pretended to preach him so long. He has 
laboured under great distress of soul, and is looked upon by some 
as melancholy and beside himself; but Whitefield, after much dis- 
course with him at New Brunswick in November, really believed 
these humiliations would prepare him for great and eminent ser- 
vices in the church. At the persuasion of Whitefield and Teunent, 
he promised to preach next Sunday." 

Success attended his labours. In April, 1740, he told* White- 
field that he was trying to bring back his people to convictions 
again and take them off from a "floating joy." 

In the spring, Newtown and Tinicum were transferred at their 
request by the synod to the care of New Brunswick Presbytery. 
Tinicum is the name of the township in Bucks county, and Te- 
hicken is the creek on which the meeting-house stood. Campbell 
continued to serve them, and was sent to the Forks of Delaware 
and Mr. Green's as a frequent supply, — Mr. Green's being what is 
now Greenwich, Mansfield, and Oxford, New Jersey. On the rup- 
ture, he was sent to preach to all the New-Side vacancies, except 
James River, in Virginia. He was followed by Rowland. 

In May, 1742, he was directed to spend one-fourth of his time 
at Forks ; and, in August, Durham asked for a portion of his time. 
Durham lies between Tinicum and Easton, was settled at an early 
age and the manufacture of iron commenced. It was the birth- 
place of the celebrated Daniel Morgan, the hero of the Cowpens, 
who in old age became a Christian under the ministry of Dr. Hill, 
of Winchester. 

Campbell was ordained Aug. 3, 1742, and was ordered to divide 

* Seward's Journal. 



JAMES DAVENPORT. 531 

one-half of his time between Forks and Greenwich. He was in- 
stalled at Tehicken, May 24, 1744. A new meeting-house being 
needed, a controversy arose as to whether it should be built on the 
old site or at the Red Hill. It resulted in fixing on the latter 
point, and in the dissolution of the pastoral relation in Ma v. 174'.'. 
lb- rem >ved into Newcastle Presbytery, and preached at Cone- 
cochea^nie. Rocky Spring, and the neighbouring churcl 

In 1758, he was dismissed to join South Carolina Presbytery, — a 
body which, in 1770, proposed t<> unite with the Synod of New 
York and Philadelphia. He became the minister of a band of his 
Countrymen settled on the left bank of Cape Fear River, above 
ville, opposite the Bluff Church. 
In the winter of 1789, Whiiefield preached, "not without effect," 
at Newton, on Cape Fear River, where among the congregation 
were many settlers newly come over from Scotland. The rebel- 
- punished by the expatriation of many High- 
landers to North Carolina: these retained the <!aelic speech, which 
miliar to Campbell, being his mother-tongue; and he became 
their minister. 

The Scotch-Irish began to flow in a steady stream southward 
from Pennsylvania before the French War, and' drew to them, from 
land, large numbers. 
pbell united with Orange Presbytery in 1774, and is not 
mentioned on the records after 17*0. 



JAMES DAVENPORT. 



The name of Davenport has been osed familiarly and of old 
time to point a moral on enthusiasm; bul how little is known of 
him ! Fev. men were more highly eulogized, living or dying, by the 
>f his own day; and his was a day Fertile in the: 
production) it men. But the sneers of Chauncey hav^ 

been adopted for true, as though the professed opponent of the 
doctrin alts of the Greal Revival could be safely relied on 

: . in his new of facts, and impartiality, in his estimate 
of character. His statements cannot be verified; he traduce. 1 !'■- 
meroy and Wneelock, and made the hearts of the righteous sad by 
holding up to contempt and abhorrence s wort which was really a 
work of God, and the men whom God made wise to win bouIs. 

Wonderfully successful in his efforts to awaken the carel< 

. the Indian from heathenism, and to influence the pious for 
good, Davenport was for a time successful in promoting a spirit of 
bitter, fanaticism, which tore asunder and consumed the 



532 JAMES DAVENPORT. 

churches ; but let it be known (for it is so entirely lost sight of in 
passing judgment on him that we cannot suppose it to be known) 
that the period of his excesses was one of acute irritating bodily 
disease, and that his restoration to health was followed by an ample 
retraction of his errors and an entire amendment of his course. 
The heaviest censure has been laid on him ; while the greatest leni- 
ency has been exercised towards the Tennents and Whitefield, and 
him who, like Hooker, is esteemed by all " the judicious," — Jona- 
than Edwards ; for Davenport differed from them not in the spirit, 
principle, and matter of his teachings and actings. The close of 
his career is as little visible in the current accounts of him as the 
motions of the heavenly bodies after they sink below our horizon ; but 
to those who walked with him, " his path was as the shining light, 
brighter and brighter to the perfect day." Men who longed to 
see the salvation of Israel come out of Zion lamented for him, 
saying, " My father, my father ! the chariot of Israel and the 
horsemen thereof." They are ready for the battle ; but where is he 
who shall set the battle in array ? 

The name of Davenport was honourable. John Davenport,* a 
famous minister in the city of London, came, with many of his 
congregation, to Massachusetts in 1637. He was one of the 
fathers of the colony of New Haven, and, in all matters of public 
interest in state or church, his advice was sought and ordinarily 
followed. His grandson was the minister of Stamford, Connecti- 
cut, from 1694 to 1731, and there, in 1716, James Davenport was 
born. 

He entered Yale College while Elisha Williams was rector. In 
the classes above him were Sergeant, missionary to the Indians, 
Parsons, of Newburyport, the excellent Elisha Kent, and Jonathan 
Barber. Wheelock and Pomeroy, Burr, Wilmot, and Bellamy 
were his juniors. Conspicuous among the students for zeal and 
pious joy was David Ferris. f Born in 1707, at Stratford, his pa- 
rents had moved in his infancy to New Milford, recently settled 
and almost a wilderness. Through the care of a pious mother, he 
early felt himself accountable to God, and in his twelfth year was 
deeply exercised. During a severe illness when about twenty, 
horror and anxiety seized him : he made promises of amendment, 
but these gave him no relief, and he sunk in despair. While at the 
plough one evening, he remembered, " The blood of Jesus Christ, 
his Son, cleanseth us from all sin;" but he immediately thought, 
" It is too late." The text, however, came with power and authority, 
and his heart leaped up at the sight of a door of hope. "If his 
blood cleanseth from all sin, why may it not cleanse mine?" 
" Then a living hope sprang in my soul, and the way cleared be- 

* Trumbull's History of Connecticut: The Davenport family. 
•J- Memoir of Ferris. 



JAMES DAVENPORT. 533 

fore me like a road through a thicket." His joy was unspeakable ; 
he was humbled and "made subject to the cross." Jesus became 
his director in all things ; a season of assault and sorrow followed, 
but gave way to thanksgiving and gladness, "which did not leave 
me one moment for two years." 

A religions excitement* began at New Milford in 1720: many 
of the subjects of it separated from the church as carnal, and pro- 
1V-- I to enjoy assurance of salvation and sinless perfection. The 
pastor, tin- Kev. Daniel Boardman, regarded Ferris as one of their 
lead')--, and says that, on his entering college in 1729, he obtained 
a great ascendency oyer Wheelock and Pomeroy and Davenport. 
-ays nothing of this in his own account; only that, while in 
New Haven, he examined his principles, discarded the doctrine of 
election, and could not join a promiscuous assembly of saints and 
sinners in singing the PBalme as a part of worship. When just 
about to graduate, he felt that he could not accept a degree, and 
returned home, much to the dissatisfaction of his friends. "The 
people generally had undue expectation-: <>f my usefulness." He 
told no one the reason of his actions, but, going over to Long 
Island, be saw for the first time the people called Quakers. lie 

had long thought there OUght to be such a people J be joined them, 

and removed to Philadelphia, and afterwards to Wilmington, resid- 
ing there from 17o7 until bis death. December 12, 170!'. lie spoke 
as a minister for the first time in 17")"). 

Surely the experience of Ferris was at the outset eminently 
scriptural: every thing in his history invalidates Boardman's 
story that h<- appeared proud, haughty, and desirous of applause. 
We might as easily credit Dr. Cutler, the Church minister of Bos- 
ton, when he says of .Jonathan Kdwards, U I know the man: 

though more decent in bis Language than Mayhew and Prince, he 
is odd iii bis principles) stiff, haughty, and morose." 

How far this man influenced Davenport oannol be known; pro- 
bably very little, — certainly not in his doctrinal views, or bis attach- 
ment to "the standing order" of the churches. As lor s i n^- i n lt , 

J I enpOTt delighted in it to 

It i- charged as a prime f.-mlt in Ferris that be was certain that 
not one in ten of the communicants in New Haven would be saved. 

This was when the half-way eovenant brought into ehureh-inein- 

bership all who were not openly immoral. He erred, in company 
with Edwards, Whitefield, Tennent, and Blair, in ottering such 
an opinion. The Btate of the churches was Lamentable: the un- 
converted in large numbers were in the communion and in the 

ministry. 

Absurdly enough, Ferris is blamed for saying he should have a 

higher seat in heaVOU than tfoSeS, — an inference of his. natural 
* Quoted by Dr. Hodge from Chauncey's Seasonable Thoughts. 



534 JAMES DAVENPORT. — 

if not just, from the saying of the Saviour, that he that is least in 
the kingdom of heaven is greater than John the Baptist, than 
whom none greater had arisen among the sons of women. 

Very likely, had it been necessary, the " seasonable thought" 
would have occurred to Chauncey of charging the Quakerism of 
Ferris to the enthusiasm of Davenport. 

At the age of twenty-two, Davenport graduated. He seems 
to have preached in New Jersey in the close of 1737 ; for Phila- 
delphia Presbytery gave leave, March 12, 1738, to Maidenhead 
and Hopewell, (Lawrence and Pennington,) to send for him, and 
also wrote a letter for them to him. He preferred to settle at 
Southold, the oldest town on Long Island, left vacant in 1736 by 
the removal of Mr. Woolsey, and was ordained by a council, 
Oct. 26, 1738. 

He began to preach at a time remarkable for increasing atten- 
tion to personal piety. Years had passed, in which languor in 
ministers and worldliness and formality in hearers strangely con- 
trasted with severe and extensive prevalence of disease of dreadful 
form and fatal character. The year 1734 was long remembered 
for the desolating ravages of the throat-distemper among the young. 

There were some slight awakenings; but throughout the land, in 
1737 and '38, there was a general decline, like the sudden closing- 
in of winter after an early spring, destroying — at least injuring — 
the premature vegetation. 

The method generally pursued by those who mourned over the 
secure state of the unconverted was to preach much on original 
sin, on repentance, and the nature and necessity of regeneration. 
In every congregation there were many, esteemed as truly pious, 
who, on examining and declaring the reason of their hope, were 
convinced in their consciences or pronounced by the minister to 
have nothing for their foundation but sand. Edwards* was com- 
plained of for announcing to some that he believed them to be in 
Christ, and to others that their hope was as the spider's web. He 
justified himself on the ground that he ought not to keep back 
from the godly the satisfaction he felt in perceiving the goodness 
of their state, and that he was bound with all authority to declare 
his judgment concerning the self-deceiver. To this practice may 
be traced the fierce opposition of some to the Revival, and the 
backwardness of many sincere Christians to countenance the fa- 
vourers of such proceedings. 

The practice was exactly suited to such a mind as Davenport's, 
and he pursued it to extremities. Though young, such was the 
fervour of his spirit, so unworldly was his life, that he was reve- 
renced, and men rose up before him as before the hoary head. His 
examination of "the states" of his hearers was rigorous and awful, 

* Tracy's "Great Awakening." 



JAMES DAVENPORT. 535 

as though he were sitting as the refiner and purifier. He dealt 
with them under the invigorating remembrance that "if thou sepa- 
rate the precious from the vile, thou shalt be as my mouth." He 
magnified his office; and the people listened, when he unfolded the 
results of his inquiry, as though they were to hear from him the de- 
cision of the Judge. He called the members* of his church of 
whose Btate he formed a favourable opinion, brethren; the others 
he styled neighbours, and withdrew as much as possible from inter- 
with them. Afterwards he forbade "neighbours" to come 
Lord's table; and we may imagine the distress, excitement, 
and exasperation that followed. 

At that time every wind from England came laden with the 
fame of White-field. His great success awakened ardent desires and 
high expectations that America would receive a like refreshing. 
]> 'Israeli remarks, that tiny who live in an age of books cannot esti- 
mate the effect produced in the hall, on the baron and his retainers, 
by the tales of pilgrims from the Holy Land; and Ave, who live in 
an age ef newspapers, are still Less tjualified to imagine how the 
of the community, a hundred years ago, were shaken, as 
the wood, by th" reading of a letter or the hearing of 
a rumour that Grod had visited his people. Then, on the highways 
a traveller was rarely seen, and each settlement, like Israel, dwelt 

alone. So, when the new.- reached them of Whitefield's progress 

as an evangelist, or as the angel in mid-heaven, having the ever- 
lasting gospel, it had free course; no other exciting topic divided 
with it the popular mind. "And great were the searchings of 

heart.'' 

her peculiarity of that time was the cheapness of labour: 
risions of employment in a household were as numerous as 
I of a sermon. There was no hurry: large portions of 

1 to family worship, catechising, and confer- 
jona of family fasting; Bervants wore 
required to spend a considerable time in reading the Scriptures, 
and in retirement foreeorel prayer. The minister rarely riBited: 
ie at Btated times, and for his coming every thing was pre- 
pared as for an ambassador of the Great King on bis Blaster's 

At Oysterponds, now Orient, a neighbouring parish, Jonathan 
employed. Born al West Springfield, Massachusetts, 

January 81, ITU. he graduated at Sfale in 17^", and was licensed 
when a!. out twenty. Having preached some time to the 1ml 

i in and blohegan, h< Island. Like-minded, 

t two spake often one to another, training greal expectations 
from the visit of Whiteneld to mi eowntry. An enemy hath said 






536 JAMES DAVENPORT. 

that Barber meditated and fasted till he fainted, and regarded the 
impressions on his mind as direct communications from heaven. 
In March, 1740,* Barber visited Southold, and found his friend 
greatly impressed with the twelfth verse of the 115th Psalm : — " He 
will bless the house of Israel; he will bless the house of Aaron;" 
gathering assuredly from thence that the Lord had called him to 
awaken the ministry and to bless them. A meeting was held for 
twenty-four hours : as a matter of course, opposers became more 
inveterate, moderate persons distrusted still more the warrantable- 
ness of their pastor's proceeding, while his admirers and the new 
converts were satiated with good. A mixed multitude came out 
of Egypt with Israel ; to them these unheard-of ways were as the 
corn of heaven, and what was sorrowful meat to the wise-hearted, 
who trembled for the ark of God, was to them as angels' food. 

Davenport left home with "his man," or, as Chauncey calls him, 
"his armour-bearer." Before entering East Hampton, they waited 
for a sign, as Jonathan and his armour-bearer did before discover- 
ing themselves to the Philistine garrison. The sign was given : he 
entered, and twenty were soon converted. The late Dr. Davis, f 
of Hamilton College, says, " This was the first revival in East 
Hampton ; many untoward and ever-to-be-lamented circumstances 
occurred ; yet lasting good was done, amid a great shaking and 
commotion." 

Whitefield heard, April 28, 1740, of "two ministers on Long 
Island who had large communications from God, and had been in- 
strumental in bringing many souls to God. They have walked in an 
uncommon light of God's countenance for a long while together." 
He met Davenport early in May, and styles him "one of the minis- 
ters whom God has lately sent out; a sweet, zealous soul." Daven- 
port went to Philadelphia, and was there during the meeting of the 
Synod of Philadelphia: he joined with the Tennents, Blah-, and 
Rowland, in preaching daily on the stand on Society Hill. To- 
wards the close of the synod, Gilbert Tennent and Samuel Blair 
asked for an " interloquitur" or private session; but they were di- 
rected to read their papers in the face of a great assemblage. 
They charged, as characteristics of the state of the ministry, unre- 
generacy, Phariseeism, and opposition to the work of God, de- 
claring that the church was burdened with a carnal ministry, and 
that ministers said "there was no knowing the state of people's 
souls," because, conscious of hypocrisy, they dreaded discovery. 

These things on the part of Blair and Tennent were full of 
power on the mind of Davenport: they were a pattern to him. 

Whitefield passed the summer of 1740 in Georgia. At New- 
port, Rhode Island, a letter was put into his hand : " I could not but 



Tracy. f Sprague on Revivals. 



JAMES DAVENPORT. 587 

think it was from one of the young ministers whom God has lately- 
made use of in such a remarkable manner on the east end of Long 
Island." It was from Barber, who had come thither with the full 
conviction that he should see him. Whitefield took sweet counsel 
with him, and placed him at the head of the Orphan-House: this 
occasioned a bitter outcry against him, as an upholder of Quakerish 
delusions and enthusiastic courses. 

Davenport spent the summer at Southold. In the fall he wrote 
to his mother that twenty of his people had been converted in 
about two months; in almost all, the work of conviction seemed 
very clear. He preached for a season at Baskingridge, in the ab- 
sence of Cross, the pastor, amid an awakening of extraordinary 
extent and power. In accompanying Whitefield to Philadelphia, 
in November, he twice narrowly escaped drowning in the swollen 
creeks: he returned, after a few days, to New Brunswick, to remain 
there a portion of the time which Tennent spent on Long Island, 
in his way to New England. Whitefield rejoiced to hear that the 
Lord was with him, adding, "{Shortly, I believe, you will evan- 
gelize.'' 

The winter he probably spent in his own parish, where the pass- 
ing labours of Tennent were fruitful of good. 

In July, 1741. Davenport went into Connecticut "to draw the 
lingering battle on;*' and his high reputation g&Yfi him a signal ad- 
Vantage. He was no stranger, but sprung from one of the most 
honourable families in the colony. Whitefield* said of him, he 
knew no man keep so close a walk with God. Tennent said, he 
was one of the most heavenly men he ever knew. Pomeroy said, 
he v,int Far beyond Wnitefield for heavenly communion and fellow- 
ship. Parsons said, in 1742, no man he had seen lived so Dear to 
Gfrod and had bis conversation so much in neaven. "I greatly loved 

him for fail piety." 

.\- Stonington, one hundred were awakened by his first sermon. 

He came to Westerly, Rhode bland, accompanied by the people 

in solemn procession, singing as they went* 1 1 * ■ preached from John 

\ . 1" : — M Ye will Dot OOmC nut" me thai ye may have life." It was 

and awakening, bat not extraordinary; yet there was a ery 
all over the bouse from conviction of sin. Twenty of the Niantio 
Indians were converted under hie preaching at Basl Lyme: "ho 
great blessing to many souls of that tribe, and of the Mohe* 
gan. tie iras eminently blessed in inolining them to receive reli- 
gious instruction, all the great pains taken by othevs having been 

fruit li 

I ing to Branford of a Saturday, the pastor, Philemon Bob- 
bins, asked him t<> preach. <>n their way to meeting on Sabbath, 



Tracy. f Rct. Joseph Park, in I lb 



538 JAMES DAVENPORT. 

he proposed to sing as they went ; but, though Robbins objected, he 
sung. He preached well: at the close of the afternoon service ho 
asked "his man" to pray, "but not with my consent- or liking," 
says Mr. Robbins. Yet, for "improving" Davenport on this occa- 
sion, he was subjected to a series of annoyances from the New 
Haven Association for years. The Patent-Office contains no speci- 
men of Yankee ingenuity equal to that exhibited by that body in 
their devices and machinations to ruin him. 

At New Haven, he came in conflict with the pastor, Mr. Noyes, 
who refused to submit to his examination ; but his preaching power- 
fully influenced Brainerd, and probably Buell and other students : 
Brainerd destroyed that portion of his diary in which he had en- 
tered "the irregular heats" to which he then gave way. 

At Saybrook, the Rev. Wm. Hart, his classmate, declined ad- 
mitting him to his pulpit, because of his censures of the standing 
ministry. Davenport warned the people of the danger of hearing 
unconverted preachers, as Tennent had done in his Nottingham 
Sermon. " Truth coming from the lips of a godless man was as 
injurious as water flowing from a poisoned trough;" and, as they 
claimed that the signs of unregeneracy were conspicuous, all were 
guilty of self-murder on their own souls who did not forsake the 
hearing of them as enemies of the cross. "I see not," said Ten- 
nent, "how any that fear God can sit contentedly under the minis- 
trations of opposers without becoming accessory to their crimson 
guilt." Samuel Blair said to the synod,* "Unless we can see 
hopeful, encouraging signs of a work of God's converting grace 
among ministers, we shall find ourselves bound in duty to our glo- 
rious Lord, to answer the invitations and desires of a people groan- 
ing under the oppression of a dead, unfaithful ministry, by going 
to preach to them wherever they are. Let those who live under 
the ministry of dead men, whether they have the form of religion 
or not, repair to the living." Tennent said it; Davenport echoed it. 

He probably passed the winter with his people. Neither his 
friends nor his opponents were idle. Burr wrote from Newark, to 
Bellamy, Jan. 13, 1741-2,f "I can join with you in expressing 
a very great value for that eminent man of God, Mr. Davenport. 
But I dare not justify all his conduct, nor can I see through it. Our 
dear brother, Mr. Edwards, tells me in a letter, he thinks he does 
more towards giving Satan and other opposers an advantage against 
the work than any one person. My dear brother, if his conduct 
be right, why do you not imitate him? I believe you don't see your 
way clear to do so in all things. I would ask you, what you think 
of his preaching : — whether it was well calculated to do good to 
mankind in general ? But I feel no heart to speak about these 

* Quoted by Dr. Hodge. f Printed in New York Observer. 



JAMES DAVENPORT. 539 

things. I have more reason to complain of my own deadness than 
of others' imprudences. Put, my dear brother, as the Lord has 
given you such clear discoveries of his love, I hope you will appear 
open and bold for him against all opposers, and also withstand 
Peter to the i';ee when he is to be Idamed." 

A law* was passed in Connecticut, in May, 1742, such as Queen 
Elizabeth might have sanctioned and Sachevercll applauded. If any 
minister preached without express invitation in a parish not under 
his care, he was denied his salary for a year; and the ministers who 
I a candidate, or counselled a congregation, not under their 
particular association, were also deprived of their support. Xo 
minister could draw lus salary till he had a certificate of the clerk 
of his parish that he had not been complained of in either of these 
things. Ministers of the colony, preaching out of their own parish, 
in a place without the consent of the pastor and a majority of the 
there, were bound over, in the penal sum of one hundred 
pound-, not to offend again: persons not inhabitants of the c 
violating the statute, were to be carried out of the land as vagrants. 
The law allowing " sober dissenters from the standing order" to 

form i 18 was repealed. 

Davenport was seized in May, at Ripton, with Pomcroy, of He- 
bron, having met there at the request of Mr. Mills, the pastor, who 
favoured the revival and was blessed in his labours. The news- 
papers state that in June, 17P2, Captain Blaekleach and Mr. Win. 
Adams, both of Stratford, complained to the General Court of the 
re to be apprehended from the great crowds gathered by 

: iort, and that thereupon he was taken up. They were car- 

ried to Hartford, charged with having exhorted people to set the 
law at defiance. ( »n the way Davenport exhorted, and. having been 
I aed by the General Court, was imprisoned, and sang all 

lvlward a friend, March 9, 1741, that the work 

rfully breaking out at Hart lord. There was a great 
croud and tumult, as though Herod Btretched forth his hands a 

time to \e\ certain of the church, and to kill dames. To 

the honour Of Hartford be it told that such a sense of the horrid 
injustice of the law was displayed, that the craven legislat lire 

Called out forty men to mount guard for their protection. The 

of public sentiment had its effect; and, assuming that he 

d in the rational faculties of his mind, the Legislature 

; tied ab »de on the island. 

l after he weni to Ma tts, bul was not countenanced 

i lie w ithdrew from the communion on 

the Lord's day. at Ofaarlestown, apprehending the minister to be 

. He appeared befol - , liation, "and in a free 

* Trumbull. <:ul Society. 



540 JAMES DAVENPORT. 

and ready manner gave us such an account of the manner of God's 
work upon him from his early days, and his effectual calling in .riper 
years, as that he appeared to us a man truly pious."* They issued 
a declaration expressive of their disapprobation of his course. He 
immediately denounced them as the prophets of Ahab's court. This 
was saying scarcely more than he had heard Gilbert Tennent say 
in the Synod of 1740, when Dickinson proposed to refer the con- 
troversy about the reception of candidates to the Boston ministers : — 
" The most of them are dead formalists, if they have even got so 
far as that." 

At this time the Presbytery of Boston met in the French meet- 
ing-house in that city, and was opened with a sermon by the Rev. 
John Caldwell, on the False Prophets, just after Davenport had 
concluded "a warm, stirring exhortation"! in the open air. Cald- 
well's sermon was printed : it was sharp and biting, placing extracts 
from AVhitefield's and Tennent's writings, as illustrative of the apos- 
tolic descriptions of false prophets, — with a frequent reference to 
Davenport's methods. 

He was taken by the sheriff, and was desired to give bonds for 
his good behaviour; he was kindly treated at the sheriff's house 
till evening, when, refusing to procure bail, he was sent to jail. 

The grand jury presented Davenport as a defamer of the minis- 
try : he was treated as insane, and carried to his home. 

In October a council! was held at Southold, at the instance of 
his dissatisfied and neglected people : he was censured, but not dis- 
missed. In March, 1743, he went to New London, and organized 
a separate church, his followers making a bonfire of the religious 
books and the clothes he condemned. Among the books were some 
of Flavel's, the sermons of Fish, of Groton, and, as Chauncey 
jocosely mentions, the famous sermon of Parsons, of Lyme. He 
adds, that Davenport contributed|| a pair of plush breeches, in the 
heat of his zeal, and that, for the want of them, he was obliged to 
keep the house. Will it be credited, that he attributes the sickness 
which confined him to his bed, to his gross immorality ? He does 
so, without giving the name of "his intelligencer." Dr. Cutler§ 
wrote to Dr. Zachary Grey, that Chauncey might have put many 
more and worse things among his seasonable thoughts, had not the 
" timid pastors," who were "his intelligencers," declined to have 
their statements published. 



* Declaration of Boston Ministers, August 12, 1742. 

f Thatcher's Diary : quoted by Tracy. J Tracy. 

|| The newspapers all expressly state that the apparel was not burnt : " each bird 
went away in its own feathers." 

\ Nichols's Literary Anecdotes. He attributes the vilest profligacy and greedi- 
ness of gain to Tennent and Whitefield. Decency forbids the printing of his 
calumny. 



JAMES DAVENPORT. 541 

He was sick : " I had the long fever and the cankery humour 
raging at once, and was lame with inflammatory ulcerations : my 
spirit was void of inward peace, laying the greatest stress on exter- 
nals, and neglecting the heart ; I was full of impatience, pride, 
and arrogance." His sufferings were extreme: "his leg was sore 
and swollen from the knee to the ankle, and for much of the time 
the sore ran day and night." 

"While thus laid aside, his brother-in-law, Wheelock, with the 
excellent Solomon Williams, of Lebanon, addressed two letters to 
him. A great change took place in him, and he passed over into 
New Jersey, a man of another spirit, to visit the places where he 
first made proof of his ministry. In October, the congregations 
of Maidenhead and Hopewell asked leave of New Brunswick Pres- 
bytery to employ him with a view to his settlement. The presby- 
tery were pleased to hear him express "his conviction of, and 
humiliation for, some things lie had been faulty in; but there were 
other things which he approved of, but they could not. They could 
not, therefore, encourage the people to make out a call; but, inas- 
much as God bad begun to show him his mistakes, they were willing 
to use all means to obtain so desirable an end," and gave the peo- 
ple liberty to " improve" him till the second Wednesday of May. 
They referred the matter to the conjunct presbytery to meet at 
Philadelphia. 

"By the gentle and laborious endeavours of Mr. Williams, and 
Mr. Wheelock," says Dr. Trumbull, "he was brought to a deep, 
humiliating, and penitent Bense of his errors, and of the false spirit 
under which he had acted." lie published, July 28, 1744, a most 
ample retraction of his errors in denouncing ministers, and exhort- 
ing the people to forsake them, making impulses a rule of conduct, 
encouraging lay-exhorters, and singing in the streets; praying that 
God would guard him against such errors, and stop the progress 
of those he had corrupted by word and example. 

He also published a letter written to Barber, from Maidenhead, 
rejoicing in hearing from him nf the revival at the Orphan-House 
in Georgia, and lamenting "the awful affair of the clothes and the 
These publications met with much contempt, "as though 
his change in Bome few things would cover the uumerous evil prac- 
tices of his party, or undo the mischief they anil he hail done." 

Nol through the press only, but by personal acknowledgments, 

did he Btlive to repair the breach he had made. A gnat .repara- 
tion had occurred through him from the church of Btonington, and 
on bis recantation he came there, "nut to be adored, but to he 
denounced as dead and worldly." "He came,"" Bays Mr. Fish, 
'•with such a mild, meek, pleasant, ami bumble spirit, broken and 

* Quoted by It. Hodge. 



542 JAMES DAVENPORT. 

contrite, as I scarce ever saw excelled or equalled. He owned his 
fault in private, and in a most Christian manner asked forgiveness 
of some ministers he had treated amiss, and in a large assembly 
publicly retracted his errors and mistakes." 

His friends who had mourned over his extravagance and virulence 
recognised the hand of God in his repentance. Mrs. Moorhead 
represents him as visited on his bed by angels : — 

" The heralds rise and touch him with their wings; 
Now in his breast a holy shame there springs ; 
He starts with rosy blushes in his face, 
And, weeping, sweetly sings to sovereign grace." 

His friends, the Rev. Timothy Allen and the Rev. Timothy 
Symmes, seem, as well as Barber, to have seen their errors : the two 
former found no place in New England, and came into New Jersey. 

Davenport became a member of New Brunswick Presbytery, 
Sept. 22, 1746, having probably for some time been preaching in 
their bounds. They resolved to make an effort to unite the Old 
and New Side congregations in Hopewell ; but, at the time appointed, 
they did not attempt it, seeing the way not at all clear. In 1748, 
he joined New York Presbytery, with a view to settle at Connecti- 
cut Farms, near Elizabethtown. Having recovered his health, he 
spent two months, in the summer of 1750, in Virginia. Da vies 
speaks highly of his labours, and the success of " that pious Enoch ;" 
he was strongly urged to settle, and was inclined to do so, but the 
matter was broken off. The winter of 1750-1, he spent at Cape 
May, "with little or no success, except on the last day." In Octo- 
ber, 1753, he was called to Maidenhead and Hopewell, but, on the 
day of installation, the people were found so negligent that the 
committee could not proceed. On their representing their sorrow 
for their fault to the presbytery, he accepted the call, and was 
installed, Oct. 27, 1754. He was moderator of the Synod of New 
York that year, and preached the opening sermon the next fall 
from 2 Cor. iv. 1. It was printed in Philadelphia at " the newest 
printing-office, on the south side of the Jersey market," with the 
title "The Faithful Minister Encouraged."* 

His stay at Hopewell was harassed by a number asking leave of 
presbytery to join adjacent congregations, and, in 1757, a petition 
was presented for his removal. He died in the autumn of that 
year, and, with his wife, was buried in the New-Light graveyard, 
about a mile from Pennington, towards the Delaware. 

* Gilbert Tennent and Treat prefixed a commendation. " Let not the pious 
author be offended with our freedom in saying that his life adds weight to this dis- 
course, for the latter is but a copy of the former. Nor should it be forgotten that 
the gracious God gave manifest tokens of his special presence when this discourse 
was delivered; not only the speaker, but divers of the hearers, both ministers and 
people, being solemnly affected." 



JAMES DAVENPORT. 543 

He left a son a few years old, 'who graduated at Nassau Hall 
in lTo'.t; lie Btudied theology with Buell and Bellamy, and was 
ordained, by Suffolk Presbytery, pastor of Mattituck, Long Island, 
June 4, 1775. He was among the first on the island to restrict 
baptism to the children of communicants. Subsequently he was 
settled at Bedford, New York, and Deerfield, New Jersey, and 
spent the close of his life as a missionary in Western New York, 
dying at Lysander, in 1820, an amiable and excellent man. 

Davenport* bought a little white girl from a party of strolling 
Indiana for a bottle of rum : she knew neither her parents nor her 
birthplace. He named her Deliverance Paine, and reared her as 
his own child. She married, and removed to North Carolina, and 
■was the mother of the Rev. William Paisley. 

Of the extravagancies charged on him, many are plainly untrue, 
coming from scoffers and worldly-wise men, to whom the great 
truths of Christ's redemption were far more odious than any error 
into which Davenport felL If he had been the only one assailed, 
;ht receive the testimony of Chaunceyand his intelligencers; 
but when we knowthat Pomerov was carried to prison, and deprived 
(>[' hi- salary for a year; that Allen and Bobbins were accused and 

condemned on frivolous pretexts; that three ministers wen 
pended for ordai Salisbury; that denunciations fell like 

hail on Whitclield, and that Buell and Prainerd were held up as 

strollers and fanatics whom it was not allowable to improve; that 
Pomeroy, Buell, Davenport, Moorhead, Blair, Croswell, and Row- 
land were classed as "common railers," "men whom the Devil" 

drive- into tin- mini-try; that Dr. Cutler speaks with equal dislike 

of Dr. Cooper, Rodgera of Ipswich, Tennent, and Buell, Btyling 
Davenport a nonpareil, and lamenting that the enthusiasm 

(17 1-'.; breaking out, and that Finley was twice carried out of Con- 
■.; as a vagrant, — it seems reasonable to doubt, whether 

i port may SOt have been greatly slandered. 

Who does not reject, with equal Bcorn, Chaunoey's assault on 

il character, and Cutler's insinuation that White- 
field and Tennent embezzled what was collected for the poor, and 
repeated the enormities of Hophni and Phineas at the door of the 
tabernacle 1 

Davenport wa eloquent orator, moving, by dramatic 

skill, hi.- audience .•:- though they heard the groans of Him who 

In preaching, lie exhausted himself: hi 
tortious of face and body probably grew out of his a.ute Buffer- 
ringing tone in speaking was imitated and 

perpetuated for half a century among "the Strict C 

tionali-t," at the East and the "Separate Baptists" at the South. 



Dr. i 



544 JAMES DAVENPORT. 

Mrs. Moorhead* describes the closing part of his public ser- 
vices : — 

" The sacred man is to the shade convey'd, 
On camomile his aching temples laid." 

Among other accusations laid against the New Lights was, that 
they preached extempore. Croswell knew only two who did so, 
even occasionally, — Whitefield and Davenport; and "well they 
might, for their minds were perpetually in heaven." 

Singing in the streets was " an enthusiastic foolery" in the eyes 
of Tennent, as well as of Dickinson. It was then not at all com- 
mon to sing hymns in public worship, even in New England. 
Twof from his pen were printed, — " Thanksgiving for Peace of 
Conscience" and "For Joy in the Holy Ghost," — and are fully 
equal to most religious poems. 

He was the constant correspondent of Jonathan Edwards ; and 
he, writing to his Scottish friends, frequently transcribes the tidings 
he had sent of the work of grace, as it appeared from time to 
time. To these notices we are indebted for several interesting 
glimpses of our ministers and churches at that day. He was also 
a valued correspondent of Samuel Davies and of Bellamy. 

Bostwick, in his sermon at the union of the synods in May, 
1758, said, •" The last year, in particular with regard to ministers, 
may be called the dying year, in which the God of heaven has 
smitten the church in these parts with repeated strokes of sore 



* Lines, in Harvard College Library, 
f Harvard College Library : — 

11 This is my Saviour's legacy, 
Confirmed by his decease : — 
Ye shall have trouble in the world ; 
In me ye shall have peace. 

" And so it is : the world doth rage, 
But peace in me doth reign, 
And while the Lord maintains the fight 
Their battles are in vain. 

"The burning bush was not consumed 
While God remained there ; 
The three, when Christ did make the fourth, 
Found fire as meek as air. 

" So is my memory stufft with sin 
Enough to make a hell ; 
And yet my conscience is not scorch'd, 
For God in me doth dwell. 

" My God, my reconciled God, 
Creator of my peace, 
Thee will I love, and praise, and sing, 
Till life and breath shall cease." 



DANIEL LAWRENCE. 545 

bereavement in a close and awful succession. Scarce had we time 
to dry our weeping eyes for the loss of one of eminent character 
and usefulness, (Burr,) but the streams of grief were called to flow 
down afresh for the loss of another, (Davenport,) whose zeal for 
God and the conversion of men was scarce to be paralleled. And 
yet, for all this, the anger of Jehovah was not turned away, but 
his hand was sunn lifted up again, and, with a dreadful aim and re- 
sistless Btroke, has brought down to the dust perhaps the greatest 
pillar in tins' part of Zion's buildings, (Edwards.) *Oh, how does 
the whole fabric shake and totter! and what a gloomy aspect do 
these providences wear ! as if God, by calling home his ain- 
bassadorSj were about to quit the affair of negotiating peace 
with mankind any mure." 



DANIEL LAWRENCE 



WAS horn on Long Island in 1718, and is said to have been a 
blacksmith. He studied at the Log College, and was taken on 
trials by New Brunswick Presbytery, September 11, 1744, and 
was licensed at Philadelphia, May 28, 1745. 

The original organization at Newtown, in Bucks county, seems 
to have died away; for Beatty was sent, in the spring of 174."), to 
'•settle a church there." In the fall, Newtown and Peiisalem 

; for Lawrence; so did Upper and Lower Bethlehem, and 
Hopewell and Maidenhead. At the request of the Forks of 
Delaware, be was Bent, May 24, 17 16, to supply them for a year, 
with a view to settlement; and, in October, a call was presented 
to him. \lr was ordained, April -, 1747, and installed on the 
third Hal. lath in Jane. Treat, of Abingdon, presided and 
preached. 

The Forks North and the Forks Wesl had been Favoured with a 
portion of Brainerd's labours, and were by m> mean- an unpro- 
mising field, having many excellent pious families. But it was a 
laborious field,— a wide, dreary, uninhabited tract of fifteen 
mill-- lying between the two meeting-houses. Lawrence was not 
i •; and, for his health, be was directed to spend the winter 
and spring of 1761 at Oape May, then in very necessitous eir- 
eumstanoee. Chesnul supplied the Porks in his absence. 

Bis health -till continuing feeble, and there being uo prospect 
of bis being aide to fulfil his pastoral office in the Forks, I 

jed. !!'• re m oved to Oape May. This was one of our 

the first that i. ■ 



546 SAMUEL SACKETT. 

and then remained vacant nearly thirty years. The Revival wag 
felt there, but the congregation was feeble in numbers and re- 
sources. Beatty visited the people, and laid before the synod 
their distressed state. Davenport passed some time there, but 
with no effect till the last Sabbath. Lawrence was called ; but a 
long delay occurred before his installation, which was not till June 
20, 1754. Of his ministry little is known. The records mention 
him as a frequent supply of Forks, and as going to preach, in 
1755, at " ~N*\ England over the mountains." 

A meeting-house was built in 1762, the frame of which re- 
mained in use till 1824. 

" It appears* to be my duty, considering the relict of my old 
disorder, to take and use the counsel which, I have heard, the 
Rev. Samuel Blair gave, not long before his exit, to the Rev. 
John Rodgers : — in preaching, to speak low, to speak slow, and to 
be short." 

He died April 13, 1766. 



SAMUEL SACKETT 



Was a nativef of Newtown, Long Island, and was married, 
April 6, 1732, to Hannah, daughter of Nathaniel Hazard, an 
elder in New York. He was probably engaged in business in 
West Chester county, New York; and having, during the Revival, 
determined to devote himself to the ministry, he was taken on 
trials by New Brunswick Presbytery, August 3, 1741. The 
minutes of the meeting at which he was licensed are not recorded. 
He was ordained October 13. 

In May, he was sent to the Highlands, to White Plains, to 
Cronpond, in West Chester county, and to Cortland Manor. 
Cronpond (Crumpond) is now Yorktown, and Cortland Manor is 
Peekskill. The old advertisements all name the locality John 
Peek's Kill. He was installed, October 12, 1743, at Bedford, 
and was directed again to visit the Highlands. He was sent as a 
supply to the Presbyterian Society in Milford, Connecticut, and 
preached there. 

Crumpond obtained, May 19, 1747, the half of his time, — Bed- 
ford being weakened by the Separates. He was charged with the 
occasional supply of Salem and Cortland Manor.;}; In December, 

* MS. note to his Sermons, in the hands of his descendants. 

•j- Riker's History of Newtown. 

X Samuel Bayard advertises, in 1733, that thirty or forty new settlements had 



SAMUEL SACKETT. 547 

1749, he -was released from the care of Crumpond. Daven- 
port* wrote to Edwards, April 9, 1751, "Mr. Sackett has lately 
been favoured with peculiar success in reducing (bringing back) a 
number drawn away and infected by the Separates; and some 
endeavours that I have since used with him have been, I trust, not 
altogether in vain. At Bedford there was something considerable 
of an awakening." 

In 1751, he IS reported as a member of Long Island Presby- 
tery, — the newly-erected Presbytery of Suffolk being sometimes so 
styled inadvertently by the synod's clerk. His field of labour 
lay, from the outset, in the natural and long-established bounds 
of New York Presbytery; but the Presbytery of New Brunswick 
was selected by him and his congregations, as more congenial and 
etnbracing more decidedly the cause of Whitefield and of the op- 
l churches in Connecticut. The Presbytery of New York 
i in the Revival, but disapproved of the misguided doings 
of those who seemed most successful in promoting the Awakening. 
Sackett very naturally passed it by, to seek the fellowship of men 
more decided and vehement, — of men prompt to succour the 
Straggling minorities that, like shipwrecked wretches in Nova 
Zembla, dreaded to be borne down or congealed into lifeless 
rigidity by the ecclesiastical icebergs towering in appalling majesty 
around them. 

When Suffolk Presbytery applied to be received by the Synod 
of New York, they asked that some of its members might be 
joined to them; and Sackett met with them, May 22, 1751. lie 
resigned the care of Bedford, April 4, 1753, the affection- of the 
people being alienated from him. I lis change of opinion in the 
matter ef baptism, and adopting the views 01 Kdwards and Bel- 
lamy, bad much to do in unsettling him. Those to whom he 
denie 1 baptism for their children refused to contribute to his sup- 
port : the presbytery assured them that they were bound to pay. 

II.- u.i- called by the Presbyterian Society, of Hanover, in Cort- 
land Manor, immediately on leaving Bedford, and settled there. 
He rarely attended any meeting of presbytery. He was dis- 
missed from Hanover, April 1. L760, and is Baid, in Bolton's 
History of West Chester, to have been installed at Crumpond the 

■•;il\ The pec, pie ,.f I 1 .1 1 1 < ■ \ . • |". ho\\.-\er. Solicited falS f< it 1 1 l'l 1 , 

!• - J7, IT 1 ;". The Church mSssionair^ there immediately 

wrote tO England that the NeW-Llght preacher had left the 
town. 

Tin- congregation of (.'rumpondt was formed in 1788 

I oat In Cortland Mutor in I i hundred ud lerenty-fife i 

I ' I. if.\ 

•(• Boll I ' niij. Ponds. 



548 TIMOTHY SYMMES. 

The land for the meeting-house was given January 2, 1739. The 
church was burned by the American troops in July, 1779, to pre- 
vent it from being converted by the British to their use. Con- 
gress passed a vote to pay three thousand five hundred dollars for 
the property destroyed : the payment is yet to be made. 

When Dutchess Presbytery was formed, he was annexed to it. 
In 1768, he declined their jurisdiction. A committee, by direc- 
tion of the synod, met at Bedford, and settled the difference. 
Their proceedings were approved of, except their having trans- 
ferred him to New York Presbytery. He acquiesced in the de- 
cision, and was allowed to join New York Presbytery ; but, not 
long after, he sought a reunion with Dutchess Presbytery. 

He died at Yorktown, June 5, 1784. His tomb bears record 
that he was judicious, faithful, laborious, and successful in his 
ministry. 

His son, born in 1735, died before him. 

In September, 1711, Philadelphia Presbytery made certain 
arrangements for Hopewell and its associate church, to take 
effect if they are not engaged with Mr. Sackett. This was pro- 
bably Richard Sackett, minister of West Greenwich, Connecticut, 
from 1717 to 1727. 



TIMOTHY SYMMES 



Was born at Scituate, Massachusetts, in 1715, and graduated 
at Harvard in 1733. He was ordained, December 2, 1736, pastor 
of Millington, a parish in East Haddam, Connecticut. The Rev. 
L. Hosmer preached from 1 Tim. vi. 20 : — " Timothy, keep that 
which is committed to thy trust." 

He was dismissed on account of his fervour in promoting the 
Revival. He erred, with Croswell, Allen, and others, in denying 
that we must seek the evidence of God's having forgiven our sins 
in our sanctification. 

He is said to have preached at Acquebogue, Long Island, from 
1741 or '42 till 1744. He met with New Brunswick Presbytery, 
May 24, 1744, and was sent to the vacancies in West Jersey. 
In May, 1747, he is mentioned as a member of New York Synod, 
and is said to have been settled at Springfield and New Provi- 
dence, in East Jersey, from 1746 to 1750. Dr. Prime says, " he 
was the pastor of Connecticut Farms." Very probably Spring- 
field did not become a separate charge for some time after, it 
being so near the Farms that each congregation hears the ringing 
of the other's bell. 



SAMUEL DAVTE8. 549 

His first -wife was the daughter of the Rev. John Cleaves, of 
Ipswich ; and his Becond was Eunice, daughter of Franc-is Cogs- 
well, Esq. 

He settled at Ipswich, and died there, April 6, 1756, aged 
forty-one. 

His son was a judge of the Supreme Court of New Jersey in 
17^ v . and was appointed Judge of the Northwestern Territory. 
He died at Marietta. Ohio, in 1*14. His first wife, the daughter 
of the Rev. Samuel Barker, was the mother of the well-known 
(tor, Captain J. 0. Symmes, and of the excellent widow of 
the venerated President Harrison. 



SAM TEL DAYIES 

"Was born near Summit Bridge,* in the Welsh Tract, in New- 
castle county, Delaware, November 8, 1723. His father, David 
-. was a Welshman, a plain, pious planter. His mother was 

an eminent saint; and having, like Hannah, asked a son of the 
Lord, and having in her heart dedicated him to the ministry, she 
named him Samuel. Bhe was his only instructor for the first ten 
yean, and early imbued him with her prevailing desire that he 

might be a minister. Though otherwise careless of divine things, 
he was mindful of hifl Hearings to death, and daily prayed to be 

spared to preach the gospel, lie was Bent to receive the rudiments 

of classical learning, under the Rev. Abel Morgan, afterwards the 

-■ minister at Middletown, New Jersey. Away from home- 

influences, he became mure estranged from God; but, at the age 

Of twelve, h" WaS awakened to see his guilt. vileiiess, . i T : 1 1 ruin. 

After much and long-continued distress, he obtained peace in be- 
lieving. This great even! boob place In 1786, probably under the 
preaching of Gilbert Tennent, whom he called bis spiritual father. 
It was a d.iv of great deadness; but <i"d was then preparing many 

Wonderful men tOt the gOOd day thai was at hand. 

II" commenced keeping a diary, which, after his death, wa 
mined by President rinley: it is a record of great distre 
measures of heavenly comfort. 
"About sixteen years ago," be said, in L767, "in the northern 
colonies, when all religious concern was much out of fashion, and 
generality lay in s dead sleep In sin, having at besl but the 
form of godliness and nothing of the power, — when the country was 

* it. 



550 SAMUEL DAVIES. 

in peace and prosperity, free from the calamities of war and epi- 
demic sickness, — when, in short, there were no external calls to re- 
pentance, — suddenly a deep general concern about eternal things 
spread through the country ; sinners started from their slumbers, 
broke off from their sins, began to inquire the way of salvation, 
and made it the great business of their life to prepare for the world 
to come. Then the gospel seemed almighty, and carried all before 
it. It pierced the very hearts of men. I have seen thousands at 
once melted down under it, all eager to hear as for life, and scarcely 
a dry eye to be seen among them. Thousands still remain shining 
monuments of the power of divine grace in that glorious day." 

Amid such animating scenes, under the preaching of Whitefield, 
Blair, Robinson, Tennent, and Rowland, Davies pursued his stu- 
dies. There were obstacles in his way, but his uncommon applica- 
tion was followed by surprising progress. Robinson supplied his 
wants. Blair taught him, not only by his words, but by his holy 
example as a man and his inimitable excellencies as a preacher. 
He was licensed by Newcastle Presbytery, July 30, 1746, at the age 
of twenty-three, and ordained an evangelist, February 19, 1747. 
He was desired by all the vacant congregations. He was manly 
and graceful ; he had a venerable presence, commanding voice, em- 
phatic delivery ; his disposition sweet, dispassionate, tender. 

He married,* October 23, 1746, Sarah Kirkpatrick, a daughter, 
probably, of John Kirkpatrick, of Nottingham. She died, Sep- 
tember 15, 1747, with her infant son. He sunk, soon after being 
licensed, into a consumptive state, and was a year in melancholy 
languishment of body. Supposing his end near, he went down to 
the Eastern Shore of Maryland, " wheref was a most glorious dis- 
play of grace, begun, I think, in 1745, under Mr. Robinson." The 
churches of Buckingham, Queen Anne, and especially those in 
Somerset, were highly favoured, and were all vacant. "I never 
saw such a deep, spreading concern in my life. In the extremity 
of a cold winter the attendance was numerous, and the people un- 
wearied; the indications of distress and joy were plain. Those 
were the happiest days of my life." 

He spent two months there, suffering with a hectic, preaching 
by day and delirious with fever at night. Bostwick says the first- 
fruits of his labours were glorious ; he was especially honoured in 
the remarkable conversion of two gentlemen. He was sent, by 
Newcastle Presbytery, in the spring of 1747, to Hanover, in Vir- 
ginia, to supply a few weeks, "when our| discouragements from 
the Government were renewed and multiplied. A proclamation was 
set up at our meeting-house, on a Lord's day, strictly requiring all 



* Quoted from his family record by Dr. Foote. 

| Davies to Bellamy. + Morris's Narrative. 



SAMUEL DAVIES. 551 

magistrates to suppress and prohibit, by all lawful means, all itine- 
rant preachers: we forebore reading that day. Soon after, Davies 
Came, having qualified himself according to law, and obtained 
license for four meeting-houses. The people received him as an 
Angel of God, and earnestly urged him to settle among them." 

"I found them," he says, "sufficiently numerous to form one 
weary large congregation or two small ones, having three meeting- 
;n Hanover, one in Henrico, and one in Louisa." 

" Sundry congregations* in Pennsylvania, my native country, 

and in the other northern colonies, most earnestly importuned me 

ttle among them, where I should have had at least an equal 

temporal maintenance, incomparably more ease, leisure, and peace, 

and the happiness of the frequent society of my brethren." 

He left them, intending to accept the call to St. George's, in 
Delaware ; but. a supplication signed by one hundred and fifty heads 
of families being sent to the presbytery from the people of Hano- 
ver. Henrico, and three other places, in the spring of 1748, he 
accepted the call in April, and was installed in May. He was then 
slowly recovering; and, looking upon it only as the intermission 
of a disease that would prove mortal, he put his life in his hand, 
hoping to prepare the way for a successor, and willing to expire 
under the fatigues of duty. 

11.- was accompanied by John Rodgers, then just licensed by 
Kewcastle Presbytery: they waited on the General Court at Wil- 
liamsburg. Leave was refused to Rodgers to qualify under the 
Toleration Art, and he was forbidden to preach in the colony, un- 
der penalty of a fine of £500 and a year's imprisonment. In the 
fall, three other meeting-houses were licensed as preaching-places 
foi 1 'ivies, making -even in all, lying twelve or fifteen miles apart, 
and tin- people being greatly dispersed. lie preached often of a 
lay: many Church people attended seriously and regularly; 
"fifty "i- sixty families have thus been entangled in the net of the 
gospel." Davenport wrotef to Edwards, " I beard lately b bredi- 
• miit of a remarkable work of conviction and conversion at 

| er, under Mr. Davies, to whose support, in bis preparation 

rice, Mr. Robinson contributed much, if not mostly, and on 
i •• him his book.-." li mostly lay in the 

tw.. extremes, gentlemen and slaves, In three years he had three 
hundred communicants, ho], .-fully pious; there were also some real 
Christians, who, throui arupulousness, did nol 

admission to the Lotus table. En the same period he baptised 
forty negroes on a credible profession; and upwards of a hundred 
of them wme often pr< -■ nl when he preached. "The remarkable 
work" began as early as May, L749; and, in the summer of 17-M, 

* Davies to the Bishop of London. 



552 SAMUEL DAVIES. 

"some were brought under concern, and God's people much re- 
vived" by the labours, for two months, of "that pious Enoch," 
Davenport. 

Davies was married, October 4, 1748, to Jean, daughter of John 
Holt, of Hanover. He regained his health, grew plethoric, and 
frequent journeyings through his wide-spread flock gave vigour to 
his frame. 

The General Court* revoked, April 12, 1750, the license granted 
by the county courts to the meeting-houses on Owen's Creek in 
Louisa, at Tucker Woodson's in Goochland, Needwood in Caroline, 
and St. Peter's in New Kent. They gave as a reason that the 
right to license belonged to them, and not, as in England, to the 
justices of the peace. Davies thought the revoking was " not from 
an oppressive spirit in the court, but of misinformation, and of the 
malignant officiousness of some private persons." He appeared 
before the General Court, and showed that if the Act of Toleration 
did not extend to Virginia, neither did the Act of Uniformity. He 
was opposed by the distinguished Peyton Randolph, the attorney- 
general, and his request was refused ; though it was openly said 
that Randolph met his match that day. He also addressed the 
commissary, Mr. Dawson, to vindicate himself of arrogance, sec- 
tarianism, and all unkindness to the State Church. He was treated 
with great courtesy at Williamsburg, particularly by Lieutenant- 
Governor Gooch ; Colonel Lee, the president of the Council, told 
him that a representation of the case had been sent to the Bishop 
of London. Fearing that undesignedly it might be imperfect and 
produce a wrong impression, he wrote to the bishop, August 13, 
1750, but delayed to send his letter till the fall of 1751. He wrote 
also, on hearing the news from Colonel Lee, to Dr. Doddridge, "his 
friend, in all the unreserved freedom of friendship." Doddridgef 
made large extracts and sent them to the bishop, who, under date 
of May 11, 1751, sent, in return, extracts from the representation 
he had received of the matter, and wrote at large, mildly and kindly, 
signifying his concurrence in the refusal to license a Dissenter to 
preach out of the county of his abode. 

On receiving the papers, Doddridge despatched them at once to 
Davies, who transmitted to him a long, courteous, able reply, dis- 
claiming for himself and the brethren of the New York Synod all 
participation in the effort to prevent the introduction of diocesan 
bishops into the Plantations; "for I was not without hopes it 
might tend to purge out the corrupt leaven from the Established 
Church, and restrain the clergy from their extravagancies, who now 
behave as they please, as there is none to censure or depose them 
on this side the Atlantic." 

* Dr. Foote's Sketches of Virginia. 

■j- Printed in the Biblical Repertory, and in Dr. Foote's Sketches of Virginia. 



SAMUEL DAVIES. 553 

It having been said to the bishop that Davies obtained a license 
for a house in New Kent, to gather a congregation where there 
were no Dissenters, he replied "that two gentlemen, of good 
- and good character, — justices in their time, and officers in 
the militia, — had asked, as a peculiar favour, that he would 
preach on weekdays, occasionally, in their county." On his con- 
senting, fifteen heads of families, professed Presbyterians, asked, 
and the county court licensed their meeting-houses. 

But t<> the bishop's correspondent it was grievous that Davies 
should ''hold forth on working-days to poor people, his only fol- 
-. ' leading them to neglect their maintenance; and "this, in 
process of time, may be severely felt by the Government, and is 
inconsistent with the religion of labour." He replied, "A great 
number of my hearers are so well furnished with slaves that they 
are under no necessity of confining themselves to hard labour. 
They redeem time from the fashionable riots and excessive diver- 
sions of this age. The religion of labour is held sacred among 
us, as the Qourishing circumstances of my people demonstrate. - ' 

question was, in a measure, put at rest by the licensing, in 
1752, of Todd, and, afterwards, of all others who desired to settle 

or itinerate. Davenport thought of removing thither; and 
Davies importuned Jonathan Edwards to take a pastoral charge in 
the Old Dominion. But they still lay, in 1753, under "some 
illegal restraints, particularly as to t he number of their meeting- 
houses, which is not at all equal to what their circumstances 

require, though they have taken all legal measures to have B BUffi- 

ci'-nt number registered according to the Act of Toleration." The 
Synod of New York "humbly and earnestly requested the con- 
currence and assistance of their friends in Great Britain with 
-, in the use of all proper means to relieve a helpless and 

oppr. 1 people in a, point so nearly concerning their religious 

liberti 

As early as 1751, some of the trustees of Nassau Hall impor- 
tuned Davies to go to Greal Britain, to " represent the affair, — 
•it and receive contributions. The application was renewed 
in the next fall; but he totally declined. Barry in 1758, the 
trustees onanimously "voted hhn to undertake the voyage." lie 
consented, on condition they would support his family and supply 
his pulpit. They complied ; and he left home, September •">, 
\- the Commencement, a1 Newark, (the L4th,) he de- 
livered a thesis, — Personales Distinotiones in Trinitate sunt 
as, — vindicated it against three opponents, and received the 
of A.M. 
lie preached ->n Monday, October 8, after the adjournment of 
synod, on [sa. Levi. I, 2. "Through the great mercy of God," 
:.iy heart was passionately affeoted with the Bubjeot* 



554 SAMUEL DAVIES. 

The venerable Gilbert Tennent, weeping beside me in the pulpit, 
was refreshed with an information from my dear and valuable 
friend, Captain Grant, of a person that was awakened by thia 
sermon. Oh, it is an unspeakable mercy that such a creature is 
not thrown by as wholly useless !" 

Amid many other anxieties, he was " uneasy to find that the 
trustees expected him to furnish himself with clothes in this em- 
bassy." He took counsel of the Hon. William Smith, of New 
York, who assured him that the revocation of the license would 
be a sufficient ground of complaint in England. 

In Philadelphia he preached six times, — the audience steadily 
increasing; and some, who stood aloof from Tennent and were 
accounted Antinoniians, attended, and were satisfied with his doc- 
trine. These latter were probably Scotsmen, who were no Anti- 
nomians ; some of whom soon after received a minister from the 
Burgher presbytery, in Scotland, while others drew to the Anti- 
Burghers, who had much success in the city. He visited White 
Clay, where he had once lived, saw his relations in the Tract, 
and was with "dear Mr. Rodgers" at the sacrament at St. 
George's. 

" The venerable Tennent" was then about fifty. He refreshed 
his young associate by his facetious and spiritual discourse. 
Before sailing, November 17, 1753, Tennent sung, prayed, and 
made an address. The voyage was completed before Christmas, 
in safety. 

Reaching London, Whitefield sent and invited them to make 
their home with him. This placed them in a difficulty ; and they 
were perplexed what to do, lest they should blast the success of 
their mission among the Dissenters, who were generally disaffected 
to him. " The advice," he observes, "of our friends and his, was, 
that public intercourse with him would be imprudent in our present 
situation." They visited him, privately, the next evening, when 
"he spoke in the most encouraging manner as to the success of our 
mission, and, in all his conversation, discovered so much zeal and 
candour, that I could not but admire the man as the wonder of the 
age." On New Year's night, he heard him preach in the Taber- 
nacle, on the barren fig-tree. " The discourse was incoherent ; yet 
it seemed to me better calculated to do good to mankind than all 
the accurate, languid discourses I have heard." Whitefield 
thought they had not taken the best method, in trying to keep 
in with all parties, but should "come out boldly; for this would 
secure the affections of the pious, from whom we might expect the 
most generous contributions." 

Sixty-seven ministers signed a recommendation of their object, 
— Baptists joining with Presbyterians and Independents. While 
soliciting their concurrence, they received two hundred pounds. 



SAMUEL DAVIES. 555 

They then printed five hundred copies of their petition to place in 
the hands of their friends. Before the 7th of May they bad ob- 
tained seventeen hundred pounds in the city. William Belcher, 
E-'j.. a Churchman, gave fifty pounds. Mr. Cromwell, a great- 
grandson of the Protector, thanked him with tears, on hearing 
him preach, and gave him three guineas. 

At Edinburgh they were kindly received, although a letter from 
Cross, of Philadelphia, had been dispersed to their disadvantage) 
and the Nottingham Sermon was industriously spread. The Com- 
mittee of Bills transmitted the petition to the Assembly, with 
their recommendation. On Monday, May 27, the petition was 
introduced; and. their credentials being read, Mr. Lumsden, Pro- 
of Divinity at Aberdeen, spoke of the duty of the Assem- 
bly to promote such institutions among the Presbyterians in the 
colonies, w 'who are a part of ourselves, having adopted the same 
standard of doctrine, worship, and discipline with this church." 
He was followed by Mr. MoLagan; and the petitions were agreed 
to — no objection being made — without a vote, granting a na- 
tional collection. The Scottish Society for Propagating Christian 

Knowledge issued a letter in their behalf. 

Rev. John Adams, of Falkirk, said to Bellamy.* in 17-V1, 
'• lb- did me the favour — and, indeed, it was a most obliging one — 
to pass two or three days at my house, and to preach to my con- 
gregation. I think, in my life, I never met with a more agreeable 
person. How happy is America in ministers!" 

At Glasgow hi- way was unexpectedly 'prepared by the kind- 
le-, of Governor Dinwiddie, of Virginia, who had written in his 
behalf to his brother, provost of the town, and to his brother-in- 
law, Mr. McCulloch, minister of Cambuslang. The freedom of 
the city was conferred on him and on President Burr, and all due 
h mour was given them. At Cambuslang, the people petitioned 

him to print the sermon they had heard from him: many appli- 
to print a collection of them bad been made to him in 

America, London, and Edinburgh. His sermon before Newcastle 

tery on |- ;i . \\\\. 1, _', y,ith BOO t' his poems, had been 

printed in Philadelphia: they were 4 * very acceptable to sundry" 

in London, and he was pressed to let them pass an edition there. f 

He thought Beriously "I' finishing ami publishing some of them on 

inn home: "perhaps they may be of Bervice in place.. Ear 

from the Bphere of my usual labours." 

I. d Elavensworth, coming to Newcastle while Davies was 

there, sent for him, and, after a long conversation, gave him 



t Mr. Briklae, afterwardi Dr. John Brehine, of Edinburgh, published the notei 

. muii on 1 Jului ii. J, vritli I 



556 SAMUEL DAVIES. 

three guineas ; James Bowes, Esq., member of Parliament for 
the county of Durham, a man of vast estate, gave five guineas. 
By his advice, he waited on the Bishop of Durham, who could do 
nothing, in a public character, for his design, but gave, as a pri- 
vate person, five guineas. Alderman Hankey, of London, gave 
five pounds ; Samuel Ruggles, Esq., of Braintree, promised thirty 
pounds, but gave fifty pounds. He visited the Rev. James Her- 
vey, and found all his expectations far exceeded in his society. 
He also waited on John and Charles Wesley : " very benevolent, 
devout, zealous men, and honoured with success." 

He did not succeed in doing any thing for the relief of the Dis- 
senters in Virginia, owing, among other causes, to the death of 
Henry Pelham, the Prime Minister, leaving the Government in 
confusion. He obtained, however, the opinion of Sir Dudley 
Rider, the attorney-general, in favour of the claim for license to 
the meeting-houses. 

Tradition* has represented that there was disagreement be- 
tween him and Tennent. How seldom truth is transmitted by 
tradition! "As we enjoyed the happiness abroad to pray to- 
gether in our room twice a day, we determined to observe the 
same method in our lodgings, besides the stated devotions of the 
family." "How solitary shall I be till his return" — from Ireland 
— "a month hence!" "My father and friend arrived, and his 
presence and conversation was very reviving to me." 

Davies sailed direct # to Virginia, and, after being wind-bound at 
Plymouth five weeks, and a weary voyage of nearly eight weeks, 
he landed at York, Feb. 13, 1755. 

The second day after, he saw his family in health, and found 
that "my favourite friend, Mr. Rodgers, who still dwells on my 
heart, had been universally acceptable, and hopefully successful, in 
Hanover." Within the next six weeks, he wrote to a member of 
the London Society for Promoting Religion among the Poor, giving 
an account of the distribution of the good books that had been 
intrusted to him. To poor white persons, he had carried " The 
Compassionate Address," " The Rise and Progress," and "Baxter's 
Call," with the best advice he could give; charging them to circu- 
late the books and make them extensively useful. 

Many negroes came to his house, pleading for books; and "I 
never did an action that met with so much gratitude as the distri- 
bution, to them, of books. Especially were they delighted with 
Watts's Psalms and Hymns ; for the negroes, above all the human 
species I ever knew, have an ear for music, and a kind of ecstatic 
delight in psalmody. No books they learn so soon, or take so much 
pleasure in, as those used in that heavenly part of divine worship." 

* Mentioned by Dr. Alexander, in the Log College. 



SAMUEL DAYIES. 557 

A larger donation -was followed with happy effects, in inducing 
more of the .-hives to learn to read, and in moving their masters 
to take new interest in their welfare. A friend* of Davies " pleased 
himself with the prospect of making some of these new converts 
the instruments of introducing Christianity into their own native 
country, by redeeming three or four of the best capacity and 
warmest hearts, who dare face the dangers of such an attempt, and 
educating them at the new college at the Jerseys for missionaries. 
If Buch can be procured, from eighteen to twenty years of age, 
who retain their native language, the want of which has hitherto 
prevented all attempts of penetrating into these, to US, unknown 
regions, probably three years' education would fit them fur the 
purp 

The frontiers of Virginia were the scene of Indian ravages: the 

governor appointed the 5th of March, 1755, as a day of fasting; 

for the drought of the preceding year had added the dread of 

famine to the miseries of war. His energies were exerted to rouse 

intrymen to vigorous self-defence and patriotic fortitude. 

1 ..all of Jerusalem was built in troublous times; and. amid all 

the harassing vexations of an intolerant State-church, congrega- 
in numbers, and were supplied with pastors. Three 
ministers were Labouring near him, one beyond the Blue Ridge, and 
another in North Carolina. Difficulties still existed in the way of 
procuring license for additional meeting-houses. Davies thought 
of taking out Licenses in tin- Bishop of London's courts. The 
. in London, for the Promotion of the Secular [nteresta of the 
iters, advised him that application should be made to the 
County Court, to the Governor and Council, and then to the 
' tor alone, for Licenses when needed; and, being refused, to 

i place as if it hail been Licensed, and let the persoo prose- 

for so doing appeal to the King in Council. "The corn- 
will take carfl to prosecute the appeal." No occasion to 

appeal ever occurred. 

In May, L754, there were considerable appearances of success in 
• and Caroline, where he thought he had Laboured in vain. 
^respondent in Richmond county writes, in 1755, "When [ 
go among .Mr. Davies'a people, religion seem- to flourish; it Beems 
like tie- suburbs of b< aven : it i.- very agreeable to see the gentlemen 
at their morning and evening prayers, with their slave- devoutly 
joining with them." 

h. was -'Mi frequently to distanl vacancies, greatly to the regret 
of his people: in two months of 17>7, he travelled live hundred miles 
and preached forty serm ins. He wae not buoyed up by -anguine 
expectations of buccoss, but burdened with a Bense of unfil 

* <;, tendon, of London, i 



558 SAMUEL DAVIES. 

In 1756, Todd assisted him at the sacrament : it was a refreshing 
season to hungry souls. There were forty-four coloured communi- 
cants. "My principal encouragement is among the slaves. A con- 
siderable number, in the land of their slavery, have been brought 
into the glorious liberty of the sons of God." At the close* of 
the year, there were remarkable revivings among the negroes of "his 
congregation. " God did more by me than I ever expected." 

In one of his long tours for preaching, his young companion, 
John Morton, rode ahead, to secure him a night's lodging at the 
house of his relative, Joseph Morton. The New-Light preacher 
was welcomed, " and with him Christ and salvation came to that 
house." The heads of the family became eminently pious: their 
conversion was the foundation of Briery congregation. 

Benighted while going to visit "a little knot of Presbyterians" 
in Lunenburg, necessity brought him to the house of a Swiss family, 
named De Graffenried, on the borders of North Carolina; while 
addressing the servants, he reached the hearts of the master and 
mistress. 

Adverting to his experience in preaching, he observes, " Once 
in three or four weeks I preach as I could wish; as in the sight of 
God, and as if I were to step from the pulpit to the supreme tribu- 
nal. I feel my subject: I melt into tears, or shudder with horror, 
when I denounce the terrors of the Lord ; I glow, I soar in ecsta- 
sies, when the love of Jesus is my theme." 

Aged persons who sat under his ministry have said that his 
powers of persuasion seemed sufficient for the accomplishment of 
any good purpose. He introduced standard works into every 
family ; he infused into his hearers a delight in religious knowledge ; 
his catechizings drew together old and young, to be examined, and 
to ponder the truths of God. "The effect of this discipline remains 
to this day." 

Davies was elected President of the College of New Jersey, 
Aug. 16, 1758. The Rev. Caleb Smith went at once to urge his 
acceptance. Davies referred the matter to the presbytery, giving 
a large written statement of his views and feelings. His people 
addressed the presbytery, f "not able to feel support under the 
mighty torrent of overwhelming grief" in the prospect of losing 
their pastor. "It was a peculiar, kind Providence that first gave 
him to us. He has relieved us from numberless distresses, as our 
spiritual father and guide to eternity. The crumbling materials 
which compose this congregation will fall to ruins, and we shall 
never be gathered together, we fear, and united in another minis- 
ter. We are persuaded he is animated by noble motives, and that 
nothing but a conviction of duty will remove him from us. We 

* Wright, in Gillies. f Dr. Foote's Sketches of Virginia. 



SAMUEL DAVIES. 559 

beseech you to consult, and fall upon some other expedient for the 
relief of the college, that will not rob us of the greatest blessing 
we enjoy under God, and leave us a people forever undone." The 
presbytery wished JJavies to decide for himself: their judgment 
would' have coincided with his. Their diffidence of their ability to 
manage affairs in a colony of so much difficulty greatly influenced 
their decision, and they advised him to remain. He acquiesced in 
their judgment, as the voice of God; but the day following, his 
anxieties revived: the question of duty was opened anew; he feared 
In- might have dune the college an injury, and the more so on learn- 
ing that the presbytery were not fully satisfied with their decision, 
llr therefore authorized Cowell, of Trenton, to say that in case 
the trustees could not elect Samuel Finley with any tolerable' 
degree of cordiality and unanimity, and should think proper to 
renew their election of him, he would accept. He highly recom- 
mended Finley, as incomparably better qualified than himself. 
"Like an inflamed meteor, I might casta glaring light and attract 
tin- gaze of mankind for a time, but the flash would soon be over." 
sent the Rev. Jeremy Ilalsey to persuade him to 
ai-t ae nee-president during the winter, till the synod should sit : 
he declined, and they re-elected him, May !», 1750. The Synod of 
New fork and Philadelphia heard a supplication from his people, 
earnestly requesting his continuance with them, and seriously con- 
lidered it, and all the reasonings on both sides; then, engaging in 
solemn prayer, they dissolved his pastoral relation. 

He bade his people farewell, July 1, preaching iYoin 2 Cor. xiii. 
11: "When, after many an anxious Conflict, I accepted your call, 
I fully expected 1 was settled among you for life : whatever advan- 
i- offers hare been made to me, on either side Of the Atlantic, 
have not had the force of temptations. It was in my heart to live 
and die with you. Such of you as know how little I shall carry 
from Virginia, after eleven years' labour in it, must be convinced in 
your own conscience, and can assure others, that worldly interest 
was not the reason of my attachment." 

II- entered on his duties a1 Princeton, duly 26, and was inaugu- 

Sept. 26. To bis ii'-u charge he applied himself assiduously. 

The work was familiar to him* He had trained for the ministry 
.John Martyn, Henry Patillo, and William Richardson, and pre* 
pared for college Wright, of Cumberland, Hunt, of Bladensburgj 
and Oaldwell, of Blisabethtown. While in England, he met his 

former DUpil, Thomas Smith. In governing and instructing, he 

ilfttl and BUCCeS8tul; but his term Of service \\:ts short. lie 

gave himself Up tO Study, rising with the dawn, and continuing at 

his toil till midnight. lie left oil' his habit of riding, which his 

plethoric babit rendered bo accessary. 

At the Close of IT' - '", a friend, mentioning the expectation of a 



560 SAMUEL DAVIES. 

sermon from him on New-Year's day, told him that Burr had 
opened the last year of his life with a sermon on Jer. xxviii. 16 : — • 
" This year thou shalt die." This may have turned his attention 
to it, for he preached from that text on New-Year's day. Being 
sick with a bad cold at the close of January, he was bled ; the 
same day he transcribed a sermon for the press, and the next day 
preached twice in the college hall. The arm inflamed, the cold in- 
creased: at breakfast, on Monday, he was seized with chills. In- 
flammatory fever set in, and he died in ten days, having recently 
entered his thirty-eighth year. Delirious through most of his 
sickness, he clearly manifested what were the favourite objects of 
his concern. His bewildered mind was continually imagining, and 
his faltering tongue uttering, some expedient for the prosperity 
of Christ's church and the good of mankind. To this fatal 
attack may be applied his account of his sickness in 1757: — 
"Blessed be my Master's name, this disorder found me employed 
in his service. It seized me in the pulpit, like a soldier wounded in 
the field. My fever made unusual ravages upon my understand- 
ing, rendering me frequently delirious and always stupid. When 
I had any little sense of things, I generally felt pretty calm and 
serene; death was disarmed. The thought of leaving my dear 
family destitute and my flock shepherdless made me often start 
back and cling to life. Formerly I have wished to live longer, that 
I might be better prepared for heaven ; but when I consider that 
I set out when about twelve years old, and what sanguine hopes I 
had then of my future progress, and yet have been almost at a 
stand ever since, I am quite discouraged. It breaks my heart ; but 
I can hardly hope better. I very much suspect this desponding 
view of the matter is wrong, and relate it only as an unusual reason 
for my willingness to die, which I n^ver felt before, and which I 
could not express." 

" In my sickness I found the unspeakable importance of a Medi- 
ator in a religion for sinners. Oh, I could have given you the word 
of a dying man for it, that Jesus is indeed a necessary and an all- 
sufficient Saviour. Indeed, he is the only support for a departing 
soul. 

"None but Christ! none but Christ! Had I as many good 
works as Abraham or Paul, I would not have dared build my 
hopes on such a quicksand, but only on this firm eternal rock. I 
am rising up with a desire to recommend him better to my fellow- 
sinners. He has done a great deal more by me already than I ever 
expected, and infinitely more than I deserved. Oh, if I might but 
untie the latchet of his shoes or draw water for the service of his 
sanctuary, it is enough for me." 

He died, February 4, 1761. His father spent his closing years 
with him, and died in Hanover, August 11, 1759, aged seventy-nine. 



SAMUEL DAYIES. 561 

His mother, as she gazed on him in his coffin, said, "There is the 
son of my prayers and my hopes, — my only son, my only earthly 
supporter; but there is the will of God, and I am satisfied." 
Dr. llodgers received her to his house, and there she finished her 
pious course. Her son looked upon the most important blessings 
of his life as immediate answers to her prayers. 

Samuel Finley preached his funeral sermon. Bostwick, of New 
York, delivered a eulogy on him in the college hall. "His man- 
ner, as to pronunciation, gesture, and delivery, seemed a most per- 
fect model of the most moving and striking oratory. The God of 
nature and grace had furnished him with every valuable endow- 
ment. August and venerable, benevolent and mild, he spoke with 
commanding authority and melting tenderness. He seemed to 
control not the attention only, but all the powers, of his audience. 
"With what majesty and grace, with what engaging and striking 
sublimity, what powerful and almost irresistible eloquence, would 
he illustrate the truths and inculcate the duties of Christianity! 
Sinai seemed to thunder from his lips when he denounced the tre- 
BjMBdow curses of the law, and sounded the dread alarm to guilty, 
secure, and impenitent sinners. The solemn scenes of the last 
Judgment seemed to rise in view when he arraigned, tried, and 
convicted self-deceivers and formal hypocrites. How did the balm 
of Gilead distil from his lips when he exhibited a bleeding, dying 
Baviour to sinful mortals as a sovereign remedy for the wounded 
heart and anguished conscience ! lie spoke as on the border! 
of eternity, and as viewing the glories and terrors of an unseen 
world, and conveyed the most grand and affecting ideas of those 
Important realities." 

B istwick* commends his engaging manner of address, his 
Sprightly, entertaining conversation. Jonathan Edwards said, in 
1752, ''1 lately had the comfort of a short interview with Mr. 
Dai 1, and was much pleased with him and his conversation: a 

man of rery solid anderatanding, discreel in his behaviour, polished 
and gentlemanly in his manners, as well as fervent and zealous in 
religion." .John AngeU .lames says "that his sense of the power 
of an awakening style of preaching was strengthened by the p*> 

• ![•• wrote I Bellamy, March IT. 1781, "The Iocs oaxmol be expressed. I 

i oBege happier in ■ president <>r In ■ more nourishing 

tatioas of his best friends, fon, who did not knon 

ieWe wha( prodigious an nmon gifts the God of heaven had 

1 a to make him osefnl to the world. Batheisgone. Oh, what 

I been! 

•■ < thousand eoj mon on the death <>r Qeorge I \. hare been printed 

i iiti'.n Is In the press. Thej ii ire absoribed, i" Philadelphia, 
ninety firs pounds for three yean to edu n,l New Fork and Philadel- 

1 I (bar ei See ban ■ dew end bis i 

:t very little- esUte. 

86 



562 SAMUEL DAVIES. 

rusal of the rousing sermons of Davies: admirable specimens, 
formed on the model of Baxter, of personal, hortatory, and impres- 
sive preaching. It is such preaching we want. In these striking 
discourses may he seen what I mean by earnest preaching." Some 
who had heard him told Dr. John H. Rice that his preaching com- 
bined a solemnity, pathos, and animation, truly wonderful, "as 
seeing Him that is invisible," with a most tender, fervent benevo- 
lence to souls. He seldom preached without producing some visi- 
ble emotion in great numbers present, and seldom without leaving 
saving impressions on one or more. His manner, even as he 
walked, was that of the ambassador of a great king. Saving con- 
version followed from the impression made by his repeating in his 
text the words, "Martha, Martha!" Many in Virginia who joined 
the Baptists ascribed their convictions to their hearing Davies 
preach as he journeyed. 

"There is nothing," said Davies, "that can wound a parent's 
heart so deeply as the thought that he should bring up his children 
to dishonour his God here and be miserable hereafter. I am en- 
deavouring to cultivate the minds of my children as they open, 
unwilling to trust them to a stranger. I find the business of educa- 
tion much more difficult than I expected. My dear little creatures 
sob and drop a tear now and then under my instructions ; but I am 
not so happy as to see them under deep and lasting impressions of 
religion." Only his daughter, who in countenance was his express 
image, ever made a profession of faith. She never married. Wil- 
liam, his eldest son, a man of extraordinary abilities, became a 
colonel in the Revolutionary War, and was occupied afterwards in 
adjusting the complicated accounts of the States with the General 
Government. Samuel was engaged in some mercantile business, 
and removed, with his family, to Tennessee. John Rodgers was a 
lawyer, a man of talents, and succeeded well in his profession. 

Besides the collection of his sermons so generally known, he 
published a sermon on Isaiah lxii. 1, 2, and one addressed to the 
young, a copy of which is in the Connecticut Historical Library; 
and a volume of Miscellanies, containing his poems ; no copy of it 
is to be found, to our knowledge, in any public library. The title* 
of "Geneva Doctor" having been given him, in a satire by Arte- 
mas on the evangelical doctrines he preached, and the tears, the 
tremblings, and faintings that followed, he published "A Pill for 
Artemas," and in it evinced the power of his sarcasm. 

He had an extensive correspondence in Great Britain. When 
Beatty visited Scotland on behalf of the Widows' Fund, he sent 
by him to Mr. McCulloch, of Cambuslang, a treatise on the atone- 
ment. McCulloch dying soon after, this massy volume of fair 

* Dr. Alexander, in the Biblical Repertory. 



JOHN BRAIXERD. 563 

manuscript lav unknown, until given by his granddaughter, Mrs. 
Coutts, of Brechin, to Dr. Burns, of Toronto, Canada West. It is 
spoken of by Dr. Burns as " valuable for its theology and its learn- 
ing, greatly raising our impressions of his talents as a logician, and 
his attainments in the literature of theology." 

Dr. Rice well said, ''There arc few sermons extant superior to 
those of Davies. Their chief and prominent excellence is doubtless 
this: — they abound in clear, forcible, and affecting delineations of 
the distinguishing doctrines of the gospel. The utter depravity of 
man, the sovereignly-free grace of Jehovah, the divinity of Christ, 
the atonement in his blood, regeneration, and sanctification by the 
Holy Spirit, — these were his favourite themes: on these he never 
ceased to expatiate, as the essence of the Christian scheme, the 
grand Bnpport of vital and practical religion. 

"So luminous and striking are his delineations of true religion, 
and -ii accurately do they distinguish the genuine from its oppo- 
sites and counterfeits, that it seems scarcely possible for any one 
to peruse them attentively and yet remain ignorant of his real 

State. 

'• While intelligible to the meanest capacities, they are calculated 
to gratify persons of the greatest knowledge and refinement." 

Around Davie- grew up a valuable body of elders. Four of them 
long survived him, — viz.: Mr. James Hunt, Mr. Samuel Morris, 
Dr. Shore, and Captain William Craighead, all men of great 
worth. 

We may say of Davies what he said of Ilervey: — "Blessed be 
God that there was such a man on this guilty globe!" 



JOHN BRAINERD 

Was a native of Bast Haddam, Connecticut, and was the bro- 
th'T of David Brainer<L Whiles student al college, hu brother 
ed «>n him in letters the great matter of religion, fearing that 
In- had not a proper sense of the ruinous consequences of the false 
religion thai bad marred the blessed Revival.* lie graduated at 
Yale, in L746; and, his brother'! health failing, the Correspond" 



r how iini.-h of it there iru in tin- w.irM. "Many Batons Christiana and 
valuable ministers ur.- boo easily impoood npon by tlii- false blase. Lot dm tall yon, 

b devil himself transformed into an angel of light. It alwaj 
with every revival "f religion, and stabs and mnrders the oanse "t Goo, srhile it 
passes curreut with Titfl-imraning mnltitndes fur the height >•( religion. 1 



564 JOHN BRAINERD. 

ents sent for him to take his place. He came to Elizabethtown, 
April 10, 1747 ; and, having been examined by New York Presby- 
tery on the 13th, he went the next day to the Indians at Cran- 
berry. He came to Northampton, in September, to see his dying 
brother ; and, being peculiarly dear to him, he refreshed him much 
by his unexpected visit, and by comfortable tidings of the state of 
his flock. Called to New Jersey on important business, he hastened 
back, and was witness of his brother's peaceful end. 

The Scottish Society sustained him: he was ordained, by New 
York Presbytery, early in 1748. In the outset he was cheered by 
the access of Indians from distant parts, by the awakening of the 
unconverted, hopeful additions to his church, and the Christian be- 
haviour of those converted under his brother's labours. Elihu Spen- 
cer and Job Strong, having been selected by the Society in Boston 
as missionaries to the Six Nations, spent the winter with him to 
prepare for their work. Strong wrote to his parents, at North- 
ampton, January 14, 1748, " Though my expectations were much 
raised by the journals of David Brainerd, and by particular in- 
formation from him, they are not equal to what now appears to be 
true concerning the glorious work of grace. There was devout 
attendance and surprising solemnity in public worship : in the 
catechetical lectures, their answers exceeded my expectations very 
much." 

Governor Belcher bade him be sure of him as a father and a 
friend to the missionaries this way, " and of all my might and 
encouragement in spreading the gospel of our God and Saviour 
wherever God shall honour me with any power or influence." 

Most of those converted under the influence of his brother 
adorned their profession. He travelled to the Forks of Delaware 
and to Wyoming several times, to induce the Indians to leave their 
unsettled life and dwell near him. Numbers came, from time to 
time ; but he succeeded in doing little more than civilizing them. 
There was something of a work of awakening all along carried on 
among his flock; some of the new-comers were awakened and 
hopefully converted, and, in general, the behaviour of the praying 
Indians was good and pious. Early in 1751, he had, through 
mercy, some special success: nine or ten appeared to be under 
convictions, and about twelve of the whites near them, that used 
to be stupid as the heathen. Many others were thoughtful and 
serious. Two years of great mortality reduced their numbers ; but 
in October, 1752,* he had forty families near him, and thirty-seven 
communicants. There were fifty children in the school. "We 
have a very considerable number of serious, regular Christians, 



* Genuine letter to a friend in England, giving an account of his mission, by 
Kev. John Brainerd: 8vo, Lond. 1753. — New York Historical Society's Library. 



JOHN BRAINERD. 565 

who are an ornament to religion: but some have backslidden. In 
seven years at least forty have been savingly converted here, ■where 
there are not two hundred souls, old and young." In 1753, he 
baptized one adult, a hopeful convert, but lost, by quick consump- 
tion, a young Indian, who had been a member of the College of 
New Jersey tor nearly two years, preparing for the ministry. 

As early as 1748 or '49, Bome gentlemen, particularly Robert 
Hunter Morris, Chief-Justice of New Jersey, a professed deist, sued 
the Indians for their lands at Cranberry, under pretext of a will 
from the Indian king, which was undoubtedly forged; but "he is 
a man of Buch craft and influence, that it is not known how it will 
issue." Braiaerd Bought to engage them in husbandry and in 
mechanical trades: to this they were adverse. Indolence and 
drunkenness were their almost universal propensity, — Buell said, 
"their constitutional sin." 

In 1751', Brainerd, with only one attendant, spent a fortnight 
on the Susquehanna t their horses were stolen, the guide was too 
lame to go on loot, ami they remained three days where there was 
no house. Saving no means but a salary of fifty pounds, he could 
not take with him a number of disciples, who, by discourse and 
example, might aid his endeavours among the savages. 

In 175i\ the General Court of Connecticut, on the petition of 
the Correspondents, granted a brief for a general collection to aid 
him in his school. Davies lodged with Brainerd, October 1, 1 7 ~> - '. , 
and was pleased with his accounts of religion among tin- Indians. 
The next day he took a view of the Indian town, and Was pleased 
at the affection of the poor savages for their minister and his con- 
descension to them. 

Barly in 1753, he met with much trouble from the enemies of 
religion, and his people were much distressed in relation to their 
lands. The Correspondents proposed that he Bhould remove with 

them somewhere to the country of the Six Nations. The place 

proposed was Onoquaga, near the head of the Susquehanna, where 
Spencer had formerly laboured. Edwards thought the Oneidas, 
who resided there, were the best-disposed of all the tribe.-, and 

Would do the utmost to encourage missionaries among them. 

Brainerd wrote to the i;. v . Gideon Eawley, who was ordained 
a missionary in 175 1. '1 rted 

si '. April 19, 1768. 
"Yours of the 2d instant I received last evening, which, with 
some other letters from London and other parts of England that 
eame to hand at the Bame time, was eery refreshing and comfort- 
able. Nothing in all the world ever cheers my spirit- like the ob- 
tion or news of something that give- ;i prospect of spreading 

the ffOSpel among the poor Indian-. Tiii-. in the main, my heart 
: and when 1 have bee' in this 



566 JOHN BRAINERD. 

desirable business, or any thing I could think had a tendency to 
promote it, then only did I breathe niy own proper air and enjoy 
myself. But, alas, I have been miserably fettered and pinioned 
since I have been employed in this excellent undertaking ; the situa- 
tion of the Indians I have had the peculiar charge of, being at 
least one hundred and fifty miles from any considerable number of 
Indians elsewhere, and my annual income far short of what was 
necessary to carry on such a design. 

" I have never been satisfied with this place from my first en- 
gaging in the business, and have been, from time to time, engaged 
in endeavours to procure one better suited to the important 
design of spreading the gospel among the Indians ; but, as yet, 
Providence has not opened a door for our remove. Of late, how- 
ever, there seems to be a great prospect of it. Some of our 
principal Indians have lately disposed of a great part of their 
land, on which they live, notwithstanding all we could do to the 
contrary, and it is finally gone from them; bo that now they 
have not enough to subsist upon long. 

" Just at this juncture there came a messenger from the Six 
Nations, and two or three nations more, with wampum, &c, in- 
viting our Indians to go and live on Whawomung, on Susque- 
hanna, a place I have visited several times. The Six Nations 
offer to give lands to them and their children forever, and that 
they shall be abridged of none of their privileges. Our Indians, 
after two days' consideration, thought best to accept the offer their 
uncle was pleased to make, and concluded to remove there about 
this time twelvemonth. I was present at their consultations on 
this head, and laid every thing before them in the best manner I 
could, and then left them to determine for themselves. But, not- 
withstanding all this, I don't see why the scheme of going to Ona- 
quaga might not be prosecuted ; for, if all things suit there, I am 
inclined to think our Indians would be as well pleased to move to 
that place as Whawomung, if they had the same invitation to the 
former as the latter. And, though they should be actually re- 
moved as above, yet if we could be admitted to live among the 
Oneidas, the report of our being there would soon cause them to 
supplicate their uncle for liberty to come there too. 

"For my part, I am heartily willing to make trial, and earnestly 
desirous, if the Lord in his providence should open a door, to 
spend my life in this service. But my taking a journey with you, 
this ensuing summer, must depend very much on the determination 
of the Correspondents. As things appear to me at present, I am 
inclined to think we had better defer the journey till next spring; 
but time and consultation on that head may better discover what 
is duty in that regard. Let us, in the mean time, be waiting 
upon God, and have our eyes to Him who only can make our en- 



JOHN BRAINERD. 567 

deavours effectual. I was never more desirous of prosecuting the 
Indian affairs than now ; and. though many things look discouraging, 
yet I cannot but hope that God will yet do glorious things among 
the poor Indians. Let us be instant in prayer to God for so great 
a blessing " 

The Correspondents -wavered between "Wyoming and Onoquaga: 
the prospect of a troublesome war made a mission in those distant 
regions disagreeable and dangerous; and, in the fall of 1755, the 
Correspondents wholly dismissed him from the mission, that he 
might preach as a probationer for settlement at Newark. 

The Indians at Cranberry were kindly cared for by Tennent, 
of Freehold, who often visited them, and gave the synod, in 1775, 
an agreeable account of their being in better circumstances than 
tver about their lands, and in a religious point of view. White- 
field preached to them, through an interpreter, and was charmed 
with Tennent's assiduity for them. 

Edwards was not satisfied with the action of the Correspondents 
in releasing Brainerd from his post, but found it impracticable, by 
reason of Un. Brainerd's feeble health, to reinstate him or send 
him to a oew mission. 

He Bottled comfortably in the work of the ministry at Newark, 
and. in Jnne, L757,was favoured with something of encouragement. 

In 1763, they aided in building a school-house, and allowed the 
teacher thirty pounds; and a yearly collection was ordered to 
maintain the schooL It was reported to be in successful opera- 
tion in 177:.', and he continued his supervision of it through his life. 

Bis home was at Mount Holly. He had a meeting-house there, 
which was burned by the British in the Revolutionary War. Seven 
Other places were regularly and frequently visited by him. The 

synod, in 1767, granted him twenty pounds, besides his salary, for 

'• his extraordinary services in forming societies, and labouring 

_• the white people, in that huge and uncultivated country." 
The grant was renewed the next year for bis extensive Bervioea 
and Labour in those uncultivated parts. From 1 T < » * > to 1770 he 
received from the congregations between Kg;: Barbour and Mana- 
hawken fifty-nine pounds nineteen shillings, though he had preached 
to them five hundred times. lb- continued to supply these 
numerous vacancies, and the annual allowance of twenty pounds 
was promised by the synod Cot thai Bervioe. In 177-'», it was 
increased to twenty-five pounds. The next year he gave an ac- 
count of his labours and prospects of Buocees, and the interest of 
the Indian Fund was reserved for him. 

In 1777, lie removed to 1 »e. -rib Id, and preached there till his 
death, March 21, L781. 

The places where Brainerd bestowed bis labours on the i 



608 JOHN BRAINERD. 

have long been abandoned: some of them Have been searched 
out, and once more favoured with Presbyterian ministrations. 
In 1767, there was a new Presbyterian meeting-house at Barne- 
gat, and probably as early, was one at Manahawken. At the 
Forks of Little Egg Harbour, or Mullica River, was Clark's 
meeting-house, of cedar logs, and lined throughout with cedar. 
Elijah Clark, a man of fortune and piety, was a ruling elder. 
The land at Cedar Bridge, on which Blackman's meeting-house 
stood, was conveyed by Andrew Blackman to the Presbyterians in 
1774. The place of worship at Great Egg Harbour, or Champion's, 
was probably near Tuckahoe. Brainerd preached near Bridge- 
port, on Wading River, under a spreading oak, which still casts its 
shade on land bequeathed by John Leak, for the use of the Pres- 
byterians. The burial-ground is there, but the church has passed 
away. Steelman's was a mile north of Absecom; and Clark's Mill 
Meeting-house, where was a regularly-constituted congregation, 
was in the northeastern part of Atlantic county, nearly one mile 
from Unionville. 

As the agent of New Jersey College, he went, in January, 1758, 
with Caleb Smith, to solicit the concurrence of the Council, con- 
vened at Stockbridge, in the removal of Edwards to the presi- 
dency of that institution. The Council, at the request of the 
English and Indian congregations at Stockbridge, wrote to the 
commissioners at Boston to appoint Brainerd to succeed Edwards : 
they also wrote to the trustees of the college to use their influence 
for this purpose. The Housatonic tribe offered a part of their 
lands to the Indians at Cranberry, to induce them to remove to 
Stockbridge. 

About this time, the province of New Jersey purchased all the 
Indian title in their limits, and then bought for the Indians a tract 
of four thousand acres at Edge Pillock, in Evesham township, 
Burlington county. The governor requested Brainerd to resume 
his mission. He was present at synod in May, 1759, with his 
elder, Joseph Lyon, and applied for advice whether it was his 
duty to comply with the proposal. Arguments on both sides were 
fully heard ; and, though tenderly affected with the case of New- 
ark congregation, yet, in consideration of the great importance 
of the Indian mission, they unanimously advised him to resume it. 
With this advice he readily and generously complied, giving up a 
very comfortable settlement for hardships and an uncertain and 
scanty support. The annuity from Scotland was not renewed. 
The synod gave him the interest of the Indian Fund, and, in 
17(31, allowed him one hundred and fifty pounds out of the general 
collection : " It is agreed that, to the utmost of our power, we 
will support Mr. Brainerd." He had under his care two Indian 
congregations, embracing one hundred and twenty families. 



JOB PRUDDEX. 569 



JOB PRUDDEN 

"Was the great-grandson of the Rev. Peter Prudden, whose 
ministry — in Hertfordshire, on the borders of Wales — was at- 
tended with uncommon success. Many good people followed him, 
when he Sailed witli the first settlers for New Haven, that they 
might enjoy his pious and fervent ministrations. He was of the 
strictest order of Independents; and when the town of Milford, 
Connecticut, was settled, the church was "gathered to him" and 
the six principal planters, as the seven pillars which "Wisdom 
hewed out, when shebuilded her house." (Prov. ix. 1.) "All those 
who had desired to be received as free planters had settled in the 
plantation, with a purpose, resolution, and desire that they might 
be admitted into church fellowship according to Christ." "Church 
members only should be free burgesses." 

When Mr. Prudden was installed, April 18, 1640, three of the 
pillars, by the appointment of the church, laid on hands, even as 
the prophets and teachers at Antioch laid hands on Barnabas and 
Saul, "separating them to the work whereunto the Holy Ghost 
Balled them." (Acts xiii. 2.) He died in 1656, aged fifty-six. 
Mather, in his "Magnalia," describes him as "a zealous preacher, 
a man of excellent Spirits, signally successful in reconciling ami 
preserving peace." He left a large landed estate at Bdgton, 
Yorkshire, (England,) still possessed by his descendants. His 
second son, John, graduated at Harvard in 1668, and was the 
minister of Jamaica, Long Island, and of Newark, New Jersey, 
where he died, at an advanced age, in 17Jo. 

In 1787, difficulties arose in the congregation in relation to the 
settlement of Mr. Whittlesey as pastor, — a respectable minority 
ling his doctrine as Armiman and his preaching as on- 
edifying. They urged their objections bo strongly, and with 
snob apparent concern and conscientiousness, that the majority 
of the Council declined to ordain. The majority of the people, 
headed by Deputy-Governor Law, insisted on their rights; and 
it was finally agreed to ordain him, and that the minority Bhould 
hear him for Bis months, and, if not satisfied, should settle a 

Colleague according to their liking. They heard him two year-, 

but weir more dissatisfied, and, m 1740, applied to the church, 

and then to the town, for relief according to the agreement. Kut, 

finding them intractable, they asked advice of the Association^ 

but they obtained neither advice nor eouiitenanee. They then — 

according to the statute for the relief of conscientious Bcruplers— » 
declared "their Sober Dissent from the Standing order eeta* 



570 JOB PRTJDDEN. 

blished in the colony, professing themselves to be Presbyterians 
according to the church of Scotland; and agreed, November 30, 
1741, to set up a separate society, if thirty heads of families 
would unite for that purpose. On the following Sabbath, they 
met for worship at the house of George Clark, Jr.; and, on the 
last Tuesday in January, they qualified themselves before the 
county court, according to the Toleration Act. In this act thirty- 
nine persons took part. The Rev. Benajah Case, of Simsbury, was 
fined and imprisoned for having preached for them on the 17 th of 
the month. Whittlesey refused his pulpit, on Sabbaths when he 
did not use it, to the ministers who came to preach for them. 
One of them preached from the door-stone to an assembly of a 
thousand. 

Whitefield had preached at Milford,* Connecticut, with unusual 
success, in October, 1740, and Gilbert Tennent was there in the 
next spring. 

The people made preparations to build a meeting-house in May, 
1742 ; but the town refused to allow them to erect on the Com- 
mon. The county court granted them liberty to build, November 
9 ; and, in that month, they raised it on land given by Bartholo- 
mew Sears. The Rev. John Eels, of Canaan, preached the first 
sermon in it, and the constable was ordered to apprehend him; 
a like order was issued against the Rev. Elisha Kent, of New- 
town ; but they both escaped his search. 

Mr. Jacob Johnson,f a native of Groton, Connecticut, who 
graduated at Yale in 1740, preached to them, having taken the 
necessary oaths. Having made him a call, they applied to some 
members of New Brunswick Presbytery to receive them under their 
care, and take Mr. Johnson on trials with a view to ordination. 
They constituted themselves a church, and elected ruling elders. 
"Accordingly, said members did send to him pieces of trial : a 
sermon on Rom. viii. 14, and a Latin exegesis, — 'An regimen 
ecclesise presbyteriale sit Scripturae et rationi congruum?' " The 
presbytery met, April 6, 1743, to hear the exercises, and John- 
son, with the commissioners, Benjamin Fenn and George Clerk, 
were present; and, having taken the congregation under their 
care and proceeded some length in the examination, they paused, 
and advised that a further attempt be made towards a recon- 
ciliation with the First Church. If this attempt should fail, then 

* History of Milford. 

f Johnson graduated at Tale in 1740, and settled at Groton, Connecticut. He 
was employed as a missionary among the Indians at Canojoharie ; and, for his 
zeal in ferreting out the evidence of the Connecticut title to the Susquehanna pur- 
chase, he was styled by Conrad Weiser, the Pennsylvania agent, " that wicked 
priest." He was called to Westmoreland, now Wilkesbarre, and was the minister 
there for a number of years. Was this " New England over the mountains," to 
which Abingdon Presbytery sent supplies ? 



JOB PRUDDEN. 571 

they shall be allowed to have supplies ; and they sent Treat, of 
Abingdon, thither, to obtain further information for them. He 
spent two Sabbaths in June with them, and was called July 20; 
but the presbytery, out of regard to the remonstrances of his 
people, refused to put the call in his hands. They then requested 
the presbytery to send them Samuel Finley. He preached two 
Sabbaths, August ~2~> and September 1. For this offence he 
was prosecuted, tried, and condemned. Governor Law ordered 
him to l>e transported as a vagrant — disturbing the peace of the 
community — by the constable, from town to town, out of the 
colony. This treatment was considered, by some of the ablest 
civilians in Connecticut and the city of New York, to be so con- 
trary to the spirit and letter of the British Constitution, that, had 
complaint been made to the king in council, it would have vacated 
the colonial charter. 

Pomeroy, of Hebron, preached to them occasionally, and was 
wrested, and carried to Hartford, to answer to the General As- 
sembly for his conduct. 

In May, 1744, New Brunswick Presbytery laid before the con- 
junct presbytery an important affair from the Presbyterian 
Boeiety of Milford. It was probably an application for supplies; 
f.»r th<- presbytery, in July, sent Saokett, of Bedford, Youngs, of 
Bouthold, and Lamb, of Baskingridge, thither, and advised the 
people to try to get Mr. Graham's son for their minister. 

Job Prudden was a native of Milford. He graduated at Yale 
in 174'!, and was licensed by New York Presbytery. He was re- 
ceived under the care of New Brunswick Presbytery, October 10, 
174»>, and was called to Milford, May 19,1747: two commissioners 
attended, and he was ordained and installed at that time. Up to 
May, L750, they were taxed for the support of Whittlesey. 

They were then released by the General Assembly; but not until 
t'-n yean after, did the Assembly invest them with the full privi- 
;' an eoolesiastica] society. 

When Norwalk* called William Tennent, Jr., in 17<>">, to bo 
colleague with Moses Dickinson, he expressed to the presbytery 
hi- desire t" remain in connection with them. They accordingly 
appointed his father. Bait, Prudden, and Kirkpatnck, to install 
him. The town, under a misapprehension'^ of the design of the 
tery, resolved to withdraw the call unless Tennent united 
with the Association and conformed to the Standing Order. In 
I e <>f things Tennent succumbed. 

Prudden| was a laborious, prudent, and faithful pastor, sound 

in doctrine, and experimental in his p reaching. Hi- people were 



» MS. 1 B i | V iy. 

f L»r. Hall's History of NorwolL J Ti uu.l.ull. 



572 THOMAS LEWIS. 

entirely and universally satisfied with his talents, meekness, pru- 
dence, and piety. They increased in numbers under his ministry, 
and lived'down the rancorous opposition of misguided men. 

He died June 24, 1774, aged fifty-nine, having taken the small- 
pox while visiting a sick person. He gave one hundred pounds 
to " his Society's" fund, and bequeathed to it all his real and 
personal estate. 



THOMAS LEWIS 



Graduated at Yale, in 1741, in the class with Governor Living- 
ston, Buell, Hopkins, Brainerd, and Youngs. He was installed 
pastor of the North Society, in New Fairfield, Connecticut, March 
28, 1744. He was zealous for the Revival, and joined in inviting 
Whitefield to visit the colony. In common with Kent, Symmes, 
and Allen, he sought rest in a new field. 

Bethlehem, in Hunterdon county, New Jersey, was a vacancy of 
Philadelphia Presbytery, in 1786, and was, in 1745, divided into 
Upper and Lower. Lewis accepted the call thither, October 14, 
1747. Davenport learned from him that "there had been a re- 
markable work of conviction prevailing in his place since Decem- 
ber, 1748. I think he spoke of about forty under some concern, a 
considerable number under strong convictions, and some hopefully 
converted." In June, 1752, Kingwood had leave to build ; and in 
the fall he had permission to divide his labours between Bethlehem 
and Kingwood. Out of this grew dissatisfaction : in May, 1754, 
he was released from Bethlehem on the Delaware, now called Alex- 
andria, and two years after the pastoral relation was dissolved, 
May 25, 1756. 

Previously he had been employed for a part of the time at Ox- 
ford, or Upper Greenwich, Oxford Furnace first asking for supplies 
in May, 1746. 

He settled at Hopewell and Maidenhead, June 13, 1758, and 
was dismissed, May 20, 1760. Smithtown, on Long Island, had 
him for their minister from 1763 to 1769, when he became the pas- 
tor of Mendham, New Jersey. He died there, in May, 1778. 



ANDREW STERLING ANDREW BAY. 573 



ANDREW STERLING 

"Was ordained by the New-Side Presbytery of Newcastle, in 
1747 or '4 s , at Upper Octorara, the majority of the congregation 
having withdrawn from Boyd in 1741. On the union he refused 
to meet with the presbytery, because the Protest of 1741 had not 
been publicly disowned by the Synod of Philadelphia: he was at 
length persuaded to regard it as the act of the individual signers. 
He was very deaf, and this was fade standing excuse for neglecting 
to attend the presbytery, or call his session together; he was also 
complained of for not being thorough or regular in catechizing the 
congregation, and also for refusing to settle with the people, that 
they might know how much of his stipend was unpaid. lie was 
arraigned, in 17*Jti, for an act of childish simplicity, or boorish dis- 

; of his ministerial character. It involved no criminality, 

rise to much scandal. The presbytery deposed him, in 

1766, on account of several previous missteps, and of there being 

no reasonable prospect, from boa deafness and other infirmities of 

ad the public clamour, of his being at all useful in the minis- 
try. He died BOOB afterwards. 



ANDREW BAY 



Wad a native of Inland, and a weaver by trade.* He was or- 
dained by the New-Side Presbytery of Newcastle, before 1748, and 
Was the pastor of Bound Hill, near fork, and of Marsh Creek, in 
Adam- OOUnty, Pennsylvania. 

The Rev. Mr. Barton, Church missionary at Lancaster, was very 
sealous For the formation of associations to defend the frontiers; 
and he wrote, November •">. 17."..",, to the Provincial authorities, "Mr. 
Pay heads a company at York." 

brother Hugh graduated al Nassau Ball, m 1750, and was 
a physician al Eerberl ' Roads, near Deer Greek, in Harford 

county. Maryland. Deer Greek, dou Ohurohville, had been sup- 
plied by Donegal Presbytery from 1788, bul its existence at ■ 
church is said to be owing to the labours of Wnitefield. Kay be- 
same the pastor in l"' - '". and many were his troubles there. 

B ud, hy l>r. Martin,*! to have been an eloquent man, bul 



• Pamphlet \<y a Oorenaiitiiu. I f M8. U tti r I Eta a. JJ. Gross. 



574 ANDREW BAY. 

was charged with having a worldly, grasping disposition. He was 
annoyed by all sorts of vexatious prosecutions before the presby- 
tery ; and tradition, with her drag-net, has gathered the evil reports 
of him, and neglected the good. He was charged with drunken- 
ness, before the presbytery; and all the proof was, that on the 
afternoon of a fast-day he had stammered in announcing his text, 
and had not been so clear in his division of the subject as usual. 
He was charged also with taking up his neighbours' horses and 
using them; and the proof was, that he had confined a stray beast 
that broke his fence, and had used no reasonable means to advertise 
the owner, who, on taking her away, said she had been so well fed 
Bhe hardly knew her. He was charged with heresy in having said 
that to deny predestination was worse than murder; whereas he 
had only said, that if the soul were of more worth than the body, 
then he who destroyed the soul by turning it away from the truth, 
was guilty of a worse crime than taking away the life of the body. 
Bay had property ; and his success in adding to it seems to have 
drawn upon him all the petty rancorous malice of the envious and 
the lazy. In 1765, the synod heard Bay's appeal from the action 
of Newcastle Presbytery ; and, while disapproving their untender 
expressions and the severity of their judgment and censure, yet, 
considering the ferment of the people, the virulence of the prose- 
cutors, and the necessity of compromising the differences, they 
approved what they had done. But they set Bay and his con- 
gregation off to the newly-erected Presbytery of Carlisle. In 
1767, Bay was sent by the synod to the South to supply the many 
vacancies which earnestly supplicated help, and he was directed in 
going to visit the South Branch of Potomac, and, in returning, 
Wilmington, Newbern, Edenton, and Williamsburg. He appears 
to have travelled extensively in Virginia and North and South 
Carolina, and was solicited to settle at Three Creeks and the upper 
part of Catawba River. He also made a tour in New England, 
and was sent by the synod, in 1768, to the vacancies above Albany, 
"for which he is to receive six pounds." 

The church in Albany was of Scottish origin, the majority of 
the congregation being emigrants from that country. Some were 
Jerseymen. There is a tradition that, owing, to a dislike of Mr. 
Browne, the rector of St. Peter's, a number of families withdrew 
from the Episcopal Society and united with the Presbyterian 
church. The original application to the synod was made in 1760 
in a very pressing manner by the English Presbyterian gentlemen 
of that city. Supplies were appointed; but Mr. William Hannah, 
a licentiate of Litchfield Association, went there, and soon received 
a call. He was a native of Litchfield county, and, having studied 
a while with Finley, at Nottingham, graduated at King's College, 
New York, in 1759. 



ANDREW BAT. 575 

He went into Pennsylvania and laboured for a season at Shrews- 
bury and York; but Newcastle Presbytery declined to employ him, 
because, among other objectionable things, he practised medicine. 
The Old-Side ministers* in Philadelphia recommended him to Al- 
bany, and a council was called to ordain him. It consisted of Mr. 
John Graham, of Southbury, Mr. Lee, of Salisbury, Mr. Gold and 
Mr. Cotton Mather Smith, of Sharon. Dr. Bellamy wrote to them, 
October 1, 1701, beseeching them not to proceed, as Hannah had 
owned to him that he believed a man might be saved who held Til- 
lotson's scheme of doctrine. They ordained him, and the church 
placed itself under the care of Dutchess Presbytery, and he was 
received as a member, October 18, 17*33. In May, 17<>7, the synod 
heard of some difficulties, and directed the presbytery to adjust 
them; and in July they suspended him on the representation of the 
three elders, David Sim, David Edgar, and John Macomb, that he 
had accepted a civil commission from the governor to practise as 
an attorney. Hannah was licensed by the Bishop of London, June 
11, 1~~-A and settled in Culpepper, Virginia. 

Dr. Rodgera visited the city, by direction of the synod, at this 
juncture, the congregation being in a distressing condition through 
the debt on their house of worship. It stood on a hill, long since 
removed, not far from the corner of South Pearl and Hudson 
In it were four square pewa with canopies, — one for the 
governor and the Corporation, <<ur for Mr. John Shabov, a wealthy 
English merchant, one for Mr. Robert Henry, and a fourth for 
distinguished Btrangers. The minister officiated in a silk cloak, 
and tokens were served before the communion. 

The synod, in 1768, expressed sympathy with the congregation, 
but could give them no relief. In 1770, Bay attended, with his 
elder, Robert Henry.} ^ wa9 stat ed that the church had csst 
£2818, and that only £811 had been raised to pay for it. Mr. 

Henry had advan 1 tll (| > , '>. and was bound, with two others, to 

pay the rest. They were cheerfully recommended to the assistance 
of all charitable and well-disposed persons. 

Whitefield visited Albany in the summer of 177'), and preached 
to b large, attentive, and affected auditory. 

The congregation, for its convenience, was annexed to New 5ork 
]' ytery. Bay joined that body in L778, having accepted a call 
to Newtown, Long bland. The records of New xork Presbytery 
have been rudely and wilfully mutilated: they commence on the 

ll"th of dune, 177~», in the midst of Hay's troubles. The people 

• I! my. 

| Collectio] oal Society. 

j Mr. Henry « u ■ merehnnl of gre»1 worth. Hia son, John Vernor Beery, wn« a 

fork. Hie grandson li the Kcv. 

James V. llinry 



576 JOHN GRANT— JOHN RODGERS. 

gave prudential and moral reasons for desiring his removal, and 
were directed to present them in writing. The elders declined to 
prosecute, but stated generally the circumstances. He said he 
would resign if fourteen persons desired it: there being thirty- 
seven present, they were asked ; eighteen desired that he should 
go, and nine that he should stay. Further inquiry showed that 
there were two to one against him. The pastoral relation was dis- 
solved : the use of the parsonage till April was allowed him, but 
not any winter wood, nor might he sow any winter grain. He ap- 
pealed to the synod, in 1776: the act separating the pastoral tie 
was confirmed, but they regretted that the matters relating to the 
glebe had not been left to arbitrators mutually chosen. Bay in a 
solemn manner declared that he declined the jurisdiction of the 
synod, and would not have any further connection with it. He is 
said, by Riker, in his "History of Newtown," to have died soon 
after. 

His wife was the daughter of Elihu Hall, of Nottingham, Mary- 
land ; his son, Elihu Hall Bay, was an eminent jurist, and Chief- 
Justice of South Carolina. 



JOHN GRANT 



Graduated at Yale in 1741, and was ordained, by New York 
Presbytery, pastor of Westfield, New Jersey, before October, 1746. 
He died, September 16, 1753, aged thirty-seven. 



JOHN RODGERS 



"Was born in Boston, August 5, 1727. His parents came from 
the city of Londonderry in 1721, and removed, in 1728, to Phila- 
delphia, 

During the first visit of Whitefield to Philadelphia, in 1739, 
while preaching at night on the court-house steps, he pressed near, 
and held a lantern for his accommodation. Absorbed and deeply 
interested, he became so much agitated as to be scarcely able to 
stand ; the lantern fell from his hand, and was dashed to pieces. 
When little more than twelve years old, he became hopefully 
pious. 



JOHN R0DGER9. 577 

Resolving to enter into the ministry, he began to study the 
learned languages, and, in 1743, was placed under Samuel Blair, 
at Fagg's Manor. He was a favourite pupil, and " profited beyond 
many of his equals ;" for Davies says of Blair, — 

" Rodgers, whom he as his own soul refined." 

Gilbert Tennent was his instructor in theology. He put him- 
self under the care of Newcastle Presbytery in June, 1747, and 
was licensed October 14. The winter was employed in supplying 
the numerous vacancies earnestly supplicating at each session of 
ytery. In the spring, at the urgent solicitation of Davies, 
he went with him to Virginia. Governor Gooch repeatedly 
directed the clerk of the Council to take the testimonials which 
Rodgers presented, that they might be read, and that he might be 
licensed under the Toleration Act. The General Court insisted 
that no step should be taken till they should sit in council. At 
the suggestion of the governor, after the Council had refused, they 
memorialized the court; but in vain, for Rodgers was forbidden 
" to preach within the colony, under a penalty of a fine of five 
hundred pounds, and a year's imprisonment without bail or main- 
prize." lie regretted afterwards that he had not appealed to the 
kin;: in council, and have secured redress in his own case, and pre- 
served others from being hampered in their missions by illegal 
and vexatious treatment. Doddridge thought that a favourable 
ion might have been obtained and been extensively useful. 

Be spent the summer of 1748 in Somerset county, Maryland, 
where the revival — begun, in 174 ">, under Robinson's labours — had 
been more powerful than anywhere else in the colony. There 
Davies had spent the preceding winter. Rodgers was successful 
in winning souls; among others, William Winder, Esq., of Wico- 
mico, a gentleman <»f wealth, worth, and high standing. lie gave 
up his Arminian notions and his Episcopal predilections, and 

1 ame a distinguished, exemplary, and useful member of our 

ohnrcfa and a valuable ruling elder. 4 

home of Rodgers was at Captain Venable's, on the Head 
of Wicomico: it vrai the home "i Makemie. Captain Joseph 
Vonable sat on the bench when Somerset Court licensed MoNish 

and Hampton to preach; and the meeting-house on Wicomico was 

on Venable's land. 

The summer on tin- Eastern Shore was one of the most pleasant 
and useful of his life, in a v.ry uncommon degree his labonrs 



* Mur cf bit nuni GoYornor ••( Maryland. Hia daughter Leah 
J. k Morris, "f Worcester oountv; and, being lefl ■ iridow in 1795, he i 
to the hoine of her ton, Dr. Vf w M rris, tl D rer, Delaware. Dr. Morrle ho 

for niauy years a ruling elder all 1 - rtat of tue church. 



678 JOHN RODGERS. 

were blessed : the triumphs of the gospel were numerous and sig- 
nal, and, in several cases, remarkable. 

In the fall, the churches of Monokin and Wicomico called him, 
as also did Pequea, Conecocheague, and St. George's. The last 
was the feeblest ; but the presbytery urged him to accept it, and 
he did so at once. 

There Robinson had spent his closing days. Davies was the 
first choice of the people, and he would gladly have settled there ; 
but he was constrained to go Virginia. Rodgers was ordained 
at St. George's, March 16, 1749. Finley preached, and Blair pre- 
sided. 

The revival begun in Whitefield's early visits increased under 
Robinson, and still more under Rodgers. The congregation 
rapidly enlarged ; a new house of worship was erected, and was 
Boon too strait for them. When an addition was built, often the 
aisles, the doors, and the windows, were filled with attentive and 
weeping hearers. Drawyers and Pencader could scarcely support 
a minister, so many chose to go to St. George's and the Forest. 

Near St. George's, an Episcopal church had been built early in 
the century. The services were conducted in the Welsh lan- 
guage ; and the Venerable Society sustained for many years mis- 
sionaries at North and South Appoquinimy, or, " apud Quin- 
quionem et Appoquinquionem." The congregation became extinct, 
several of the families connecting themselves with the Presby- 
terian church. 

The Forest Church, near Middletown, had a third part of his 
time. The meeting-house was built in 1750 : those who had been 
hearers and elders in Hutcheson's church at Bohemia united in 
erecting the building, under the style of the Congregation of Bo- 
hemia and Appoquinimy. Some families held pews in both 
churches, and attended regularly at both. 

Rodgers established and maintained successfully the public 
stated catechizing of the congregation, not confining the service 
by any means to the young, and connecting it with the annual 
pastoral visit to every family. 

With far-seeing sagacity, he raised among his people, in 1751, 
money to establish a permanent fund ; little thinking that, even in 
his lifetime, the congregation would be so reduced in numbers as 
to owe to the annual proceeds of that fund the privilege of hearing 
the gospel statedly preached. 

He did not neglect the vacancies hopelessly sinking out of ex- 
istence all along the peninsula. He often visited them. At 
Church Hill, in Queen Anne's, where the labours of Robinson and 
Davies had been greatly blessed, he baptized twenty-nine adults 
on the same day in which many others were admitted to the com- 
munion. 



JOHN RODGERS. 579 

In 1754, he declined, as soon as it was tendered, an invitation 
to vbit New York with a view to settlement. He was called 
thither in January, 176d; and the presbytery referred to the 
synod for advice whether they should put the call in his hands. 
Tennent and Finley both recommended him highly: "some* say 
he is nearly equal to the late Mr. Davies." A few days after, he 
received a call from the Independent Church in Charleston. 
Whitefield was at St. George's soon after, and told him he thought 
his work was done there ; but, though familiar with the condition 
of the two cities, he could not decide which call he should accept. 
The synod, after considering the matter for three days, was nearly 
unanimous as to his duty to go to New York. The pastoral re- 
lation was dissolved, May 18, 1 "»>."», and he was installed in his 
new charge, September 4, having the Kev. Joseph Treat as col- 
: Johnes presided, and Caldwell preached. So fearful had 
they been of not securing him, that they applied to Suffolk Pres- 
bytery to use their influence in their behalf, and, with their com- 
missioner, sent Caldwell, of Elizabethtown, to plead for them 
Newcastle Presbytery. 

U A considerable revival of religion almost immediately ensued: 
a large number were brought to the knowledge of the truth." So 
much did the congregation increase that, in the spring of 1706, 
the foundation of* the Brick Church was laid, and the house was 
opened on New Year's day, 1768, 

A new attempt was made to obtain a charter, in March, 1766. 
Lord Dartmouth, President of the Privy Council, sincerely 
favoured it; but the Bishop of London appeared twice before the 
Lord- of Trade and Plantations to oppose it. His lordship said,f 
th<- Churchmen in New York were fearful at that time that the 

iters would unite with the Established church of Scotland. 

The petition was rejected, August 26, 17*17. Dr. Chandler, 

Church minister of EUaabetntown, boldly avowed, that the reason 

why it was refused was heeau-e William Smith, Esq., was one of 
the petitioners. Hil Opposition to Church encroachments was not 

to I,.- forgiven. Pr. Johnson, of King's College, told Archbishop 
Becker that " the book by Smith was the principal cause of the 
complaints against the Venerable Society and the missionaries; 

there is nothing the Dissenters will Stick at." 

Dr. Lsidlie, of the Dutch Reformed church, and Dr. John 
Mason, of the A Church, joined with Rodgera and the 

three eminent lawyeri of bu congregation (William Livingston, 

William Smith, and John Moriu Scott) in a number of puplioa- 
tiona 09 the impolicy and dangers of the introduction of bishops 



• BelUmi 

■ -toot Episcopal Church Ui'Ur:.i 



580 JOHN RODGERS. 

into the colonies : " De Laune's Plea for Non-conformity" was 
printed and widely circulated. 

Governor Tryon was the bearer of a petition for a charter in 
1774, and obtained an order from the king in council, granting 
the request. The charter was drafted, and passed the governor 
and Council, and was placed in the hands of Kemp, the king's 
attorney, to report thereon. There it laid till the Declaration of 
Independence divested king, Council, and attorney of power 

" To tithe and toll in these dominions." 

In the close of February, 1776, Rodgers, with many others, re- 
moved their families from New York, expecting that a speedy 
effort would be made to seize the city and hold it for the Crown. 
Placing his family with his son-in-law, — the Rev. William M. 
Tennent, of Greenfield, Connecticut, — he became chaplain of 
General Heath's brigade in April, and, on resigning, spent the 
winter in Georgia. He was elected chaplain of the State Con- 
vention, and then of the Council of Safety and of the first legis- 
lature, and continued in the discharge of these duties till the 
burning of Esopus, in October, 1777. From that time till the 
war closed, he laboured at Amenia, in Dutchess county, then at 
Danbury, Connecticut, and, for eighteen months, at Lamington, 
New Jersey. 

On his return to New York the parsonage was gone, having 
been consumed in the great fire, soon after the royal troops en- 
tered the city. The Wall Street Church had been converted into 
barracks, and the Brick Church into a hospital, and left in a 
ruinous state. The vestry of Trinity Church — " Whig Episco- 
palians" — offered the use of St. Paul's and St. George's; and 
Rodgers preached in them, alternately, from November, 1783, till 
June, 17 — . 

The congregation had lost some valuable members, but it was 
still large. The churches were repaired, almost rebuilt ; and, 
Treat having been dismissed, though a number warmly urged his 
stay, a colleague was sought; and, in a few years, another was 
needed. A third church was built in 1796, and another minister 
associated with the three others in one joint session. 

Rodgers was the moderator of the first General Assembly, in 
1789. After 1803, he ceased to preach more than once on the 
Sabbath, and, from that time, read his discourses, being then 
seventy-seven. He preached for the last time in September, 
1809. At the communion, in December, he attempted to serve a 
table; but his recollection so entirely failed him that with the 
utmost difficulty he got through the service. " The tears of hun- 
dreds witness their mingled respect and sympathy for the beloved 
pastor, now sinking into the grave." 



JOHN RODGERS. 581 

His memory failed, but no pious habit declined, no devout 
affection abated. In the evening preceding his death, he prayed 
with his family, three times making supplication for his beloved 
people. The next morning he proposed to convene the family for 
prayer, but soon fell asleep. He awoke speechless ; and, by 
expressing his wonted hope and consolation, he waited his 
appointed time. At about four in the afternoon of May 7, 1811, 
in his eighty-fourth year, he entered into rest. 

Sixty and four were the years of his ministry. Dr. Griffin 
testifies that his influence, and that of McWhorter, in their old 
age, was most healthful, and kept alive in our church a remem- 
brance of the years of the right hand of the Most High, a sense 
of the importance of revivals, and a longing for their return, such 
as was not to be found in New England. He overlived all the 
ministers who had seen the Great Revival and had felt the evils 
of the disruption, ami who had rejoiced in the successful esta- 
blishment of the College of New Jersey, and the union of the 
church in the Synod of New York and Philadelphia. He lived to 
see the gloomy clouds, that hung over our land so ominously for 
yean alter the Revolution, roll away, and to witness the enlarge- 
ment and prosperity of our church beyond all the most sanguine 
expectations of his youth. 

Whitefield, who had failed, though using the agency of the 
Marquis of Lothian, in procuring a Doctorate in Divinity for 
Burr, was successful, by the aid of Franklin, in obtaining that 
honour for Rodgers from the University of Edinburgh, in 17''> s . 

lie married, in 1752, the daughter of Colonel Peter Bayard, of 
Bohemia, in Cecil county, Maryland, of whose family BIZ were 
Converted under Whitefield. She was the mother of Dr. John II. 
]',. Rodgers,* an eminent physician and a ruling elder, and of the 
wife <»f the Rev. Dr. Torment, of Abingdon. 

It whs the good fortune of our church that Rodgers should 

have had associated with him that admirable man. Dr. Samuel 

Miller; for through his indefatigable and wise care was ]ire- 

1. in hi- "Memoir of Rodgers," all that was then known of 

our early history. 

• 1 after b>.r only brother, who dlvl in 1700, aged ucveiileeii. 



582 AARON RICHARDS — CALEB SMITH. 



AARON RICHARDS 

Graduated at Yale in 1743, and was ordained by New York 
Presbytery, in 1749, pastor at Rahway, New Jersey. 

Davies, on the way from Elizabetlitown to the synod, in 1753, 
called on him, in company with Spencer and Brown, of Bridge- 
hampton. "A pious minister, under the deepest melancholy and 
temptation, harassed with perpetual suggestions to cut his own 
throat. Davies gave him his best advice, with an account of his 
own melancholy some years ago." The gloom continued, with 
intermissions, through his life, although it is said that naturally he 
was of a remarkably gay and lively turn. 

During the war of the Revolution he retired for a season, to be 
out of the reach of the enemy, who had carried off McKnight, of 
Shrewsbury, and Roe, of Woodbridge. He supplied the church of 
South Hanover while absent from home. For many years he was 
sent yearly to preach at the East and West Houses, on Staten 
Island, — the congregation being so small as to receive no more 
ministerial services besides, except a similar visit from Horton, of 
Newtown. 

Towards the close of his days Richards sunk under hypochondria, 
and became a prey to imaginary terrors; and, in 1790, he ceased 
to preach. The congregation made the kindest arrangement for 
the comfort of his family, and petitioned the presbytery to dissolve 
the pastoral relation. The Rev. Mr. Chapman,* of Orange, was 
sent to confer with him ; but, by the advice of his family, he did 
not speak to him of the matter : they expressed their satisfaction 
with the measures of the people in their behalf, and acquiesced in 
their petition. He was dismissed, May 3, 1791, and died, May 16, 
1793, in the forty-fifth year of his ministry, and the seventy-fifth 
year of his age. 



CALEB SMITH 



Was born in Brookhaven, Long Island, December 29, 1723, and 
graduated at Yale in 1743, having been converted in his sixteenth 
year. He was the son of William Smith, a descendant of the 

* MS. Records of New York Presbytery. 



TIMOTHY ALLEN. 583 

principal early settler of that town. New York Presbytery 
licensed him in April, 1747, and ordained him, November 30, 1748, 
pastor of Newark Mountains, now Orange, New Jersey. His pre- 
■Veoessor, the Rev. Daniel Taylor, graduated at Yale in 1707, and 
preached for some time at Smithtown, Long Island, and died Janu- 
ary s , 1748. This congregation is probably the one alluded to by 
Andrews, in his letter of March, 1729, as "back of Newark," and 
as being the only one in the province that did not conform to 
the Presbyterian mode. It retained the Independent form until 
Taylor's death. 

Smith was an untiring friend of the College of New Jersey, 
making long journeys to collect funds, and going to Virginia to 
prevail on Daviefl to accept the presidency. 

He was not an attractive preacher: his monotony and his lia- 
bility to vertigo in the pulpit tire mentioned in his funeral sermon. 
He was indefatigable in study: he delighted in prayer, and excelled 
in pastoral visiting and catechizing. 

His first wife was Martha, the youngest child of President 
Dickinson: she died, August 20, 1707, leaving three daughters. 
Hi- second wife was Rebecca, daughter of Major Isaac Foote, of 
Branford, Connecticut^ 

Smith died October 22, 1702, aged thirty-nine. His only son, 
on reaching manhood, went to the South, and was never heard of 
by bis friends. 

A -holt memoir of Caleb Smith, with some extracts from his 
diary, was pnblished. He printed his sermon on the death of Burr, 
and his charge at the ordination of Thane. 



TIMOTHY ALLEN 



I- -aid to have beet much umlcr the influence, while in college, 

.id Ferris, to whom greal prominence is given by Chauncey, 
in bis "Seasonable Thought-." as the originator of the eccentric 

nid oonrse of Davenport. 4 Chauncey inserts, at length, a 

letter from Allen, while a sophomore, to the Kev. Daniel Buss, :i 

classmate of Davenport, and a/hose name is broughl forward, as a 

disturber of Israel, by those who cried "Peace when there was no 

Th.- letter is dated July 1, L784. Allen thought he had 



* (in'- nf Or. f'tiinmo.-v's "Intolligenoen" msntfona Allen u joining with Datan* 

port in milking the DOOftn "f olotlu - IB I plotl l'""ki ut N>-w 1. 



584 TIMOTHY ALLEN. 

not long to live, and ought to commence preaching without finish- 
ing his studies : " The arm of the Lord is not shortened, and there- 
fore He does not need the aid of human learning." This boyish 
effusion was treasured up by Mr. Clap, the rector, and Allen was 
regarded with distrust and coldness. 

He graduated in 1736, at a time when the town and college were 
favoured with a reviving : among the fruits of it was the conversion 
of Burr. 

He was the pastor of West Haven, Connecticut, from 1738 to 
1742. His zeal in promoting the Revival drew on him much oppo- 
sition from the ministers who held the New Light in contempt. 
Allen preached clearly and fully the truth concerning man's help- 
lessness through the inveterate enmity of his heart to God. He 
asserted the inefficacy of all means to convert the natural man, 
and the absolute necessity of the ne*w-creating power of the Holy 
Spirit. The New Haven Association laid hold on his expression 
that the Bible could not, of itself, or by any man's efforts, do the 
unregenerate sinner any more good than the reading of an old al- 
manac : for this they deposed him in 1741. Turell, in his " Dialogue 
with a Parishioner," suggests that, if the reading of the Bible and 
an old almanac be of like value, a statute should be made declar- 
ing it to be a desecration of the Sabbath, and punishable by the 
magistrate, for sinners to read the Scriptures on the Lord's day. 

After the arrest of Davenport by the Connecticut magistrates in 
May, 1742, it was* impressed on many minds that they must go 
forth and erect a "shepherds' tent" at New London, to educate 
persons of the right stamp for the ministry. The school was 
opened under the care of Allen. The New Haven Association de- 
nounced it as "that thing called a Shepherds' Tent." The Synod 
of Philadelphia, in writing to the Rev. Thomas Clap, Rector of 
Yale, in 1746, say, " We shall be shy of the proposals of the New 
York Synod, until they show us in what way they intend to have 
their youth educated for the ministry, and be ready to discourage 
all such methods of bringing all good learning into contempt as 
the Shepherds' Tent." 

The act of the legislature in October, 1742, prohibiting the 
establishment of seminaries by private or unknown persons, was 
especially directed against it, and compelled its removal to Rhode 
Island. 

When Jonathan Dickinson published his dialogue on " A Display 
of Divine Grace," the Rev. Andrew Croswell, of Groton, Connecti- 
cut, published a reply, stigmatizing it as a most dangerous book, 
and of the worst tendency. Allen and Symmes, with several 
ministers in New England, prefaced the pamphlet, giving it their 

* Tracy's Great Awakening. 



ISRAEL REID. 585 

concurrence, and especially testifying against Dickinson's inex- 
cusable error in teaching that the proof of our justification must 
be found in the evidences of our sanctification. They fancied that 
Lihertinus, one of the speakers in the dialogue, was designed as an 
odious caricature of the friends of the Revival. Dickinson replied 
that it was intended as a display of the Moravians, whom his assail- 
ants, equally with himself, regarded as dangerous and Antinomian. 
He reminded them that the Antinomian doctrines were in vogue in 
Beveral parishes of Southold, Long bland, and that in East Jersey 
many people, though duly warned, followed and upheld a scandal- 
ous, deposed, and excommunicated minister. 

The Shepherds' Tent becoming cheerless as Jonah's withering 
arbour, Allen removed to Long Island, and probably laid aside, 
with Davenport, the extreme views he had held. He met with Suf- 
folk Presbytery, June 14, 1748, and laid before them " the absolu- 
tion" by which the censure laid on him in New England was taken 
off. He joined New Brunswick Presbytery, October 12, 1748, 
and supplied Hopewell and Maidenhead for three or four years. 
From 1763 to '50 he laboured at Woodbridge, and was a member 
of New York Presbytery till 1761, although he was installed at 
Ashford, Massachusetts, October 12, 1757. He became the minis- 
ter of Chesterfield, in that State, at the age of seventy,* and 
preached, by the request of the people, at his own installation, 
June 16, L786. His labours were not in vain. Ue rested from 
them May 1, 17t'4, though then in vigorous health, with mind and 
body little affected by the weight of almost a century. He de- 
parted January 12, 1806, in his ninety-first year, full of the com- 
forts of the goepeL 

After his return to New England, he published a large number 
of ooeasiona] sermons. 

Dr. Trumbull says, he was a man of genius and talents, an 
able and zealous defender of the doctrines of grace from the pul- 
pit and the press, of strict morals, and a powerful and fervent 

iher. 



ISRAEL REID. 



Tin: Synod of Philadelphia, in May, 1717, appointed the com- 
mission to be the committee for the school, to meet the second 
Wednesdays of October and March, and "then to examine Mr. 
Israel Eteid, and to give him a certificate if he be approved." Ho 

* History <•( fFwtan M :isaachuactts. 



586 DANIEL THANE. 

graduated in the first class sent forth from the College of New Jer- 
sey ; and, being licensed by New York Presbytery, he placed him- 
self under the care of New Brunswick Presbytery, October 12, 
1748, to answer the supplication from Bound Brook. He was 
called, December 6, 1749, and ordained pastor, March 7, 1750, — 
the first graduate of the College who became a member of synod. 
Davenport says, "he was encouraged by tokens of good among his 
people in 1751." 

New Brunswick asked for one-fourth of his time in April, 1768, 
and Millstone made the same request the next year. He died, 
November 28, 1793. 



DANIEL THANE 



Is said to have been a native of Scotland, and to have studied 
at Aberdeen. He graduated at Nassau Hall in 1748, and was 
ordained, by New York Presbytery, pastor at Connecticut Farms, 
New Jersey, August 29, 1750, when Arthur preached, and Caleb 
Smith gave the charge. 

In 1754, he was sent by the synod to Virginia and the Caro- 
linas. Ramsey, in his "History of South Carolina," says that he 
preached in the fork of Broad and Saluda Rivers, where there were 
only six families. These were driven away by the Indians, be- 
tween 1755 and '63; but they returned and set up congregations, 
served in after-times by Dr. Joseph Alexander, Mr. Simpson, and 
Mr. Tate. In 1808, there was a flourishing congregation, with a 
meeting-house, on the spot where Thane preached, in 1754, under 
a tree. 

He is said to have been dismissed from Connecticut Farms in 
1757 ; and, on the union, the synod left him at liberty to join either 
the Presbytery of Newcastle or Lewes. He was settled in the 
united congregations of Newcastle and Christina Bridge, and, in 
1763, he dissolved the pastoral relation himself. He was accused 
of drunkenness, but was cleared by the presbytery on the ground 
that the appearances which were against him might easily be ac- 
counted for from his disordered state of mind and body. He died 
soon after. 

Dr. Hosack, in his "Memoir of De Witt Clinton," says that 
eminent man was under Thane's tuition, and that he was the minis- 
ter of New Windsor, in Orange county, New York. 



ENOS AYRES— ELIHU SPENCER. 587 



EXOS AYRES 



Was probably a pupil of Bellamy, to whom he -wrote from 
Elizabethtown in September, 1745, mentioning the erection of 
'•the Biimard" of New York, and the estrangement of our minis- 
ters from Whitefield on account of his seeming to favour the 
Moravians. 

He graduated at Nassau Hall in 1748, and his name stands 
first on the roll of alumni. 

He was ordained by New York Presbytery, before May, 1750, 
as the minister of Blooming Grove, in Orange county, New York, 
and died there in 17G5. 



ELIHU SPENCER 



Was Imrn at East Iladdam, Connecticut, February 12, 1721, 
and was a descendant — as was also David Brasnera — of Jared 
Bpencer, one of the first settlers of that town, and who, with four 
brothers, came at an early day to New England. He graduated 
at Yak- in 174o\ 

The Commissioners at Boston* of the London Society for 
Propagating the Gospel among the Indians had received from 
Itate of the famous Dr. Williams a sum for the maintenance 
of two missionaries among the Six Nations. Having a very high 
esteem of Brainerd, they intrusted to bin the affair of finding out 
and reeomWioinHng puteble persons. He recommended Spencer 

and Job Strong, t u undoubtedly," Said .Jonathan Kdwards, "well- 
qualified persons, and of good abilities and learning, and of pious 
dispositions." They spent the winter with John Brainerd, at 
Bel i. in New Jersey, to acquire ■ knowledge of the Indian 
tongue,! with tlie other sooomplishmentfl ancoosary for the mission. 
Bpencer passed the rammer with Jonathan Edwards, ami aooomr- 
panied him to Albany, to be preeenl at an Indian treaty. 

John Bminerd had intended to accompany them when they 

9. B. Dwight'i Lift of Rdwasda 
t A .- I ale, uti'l H oatiTC .if Northampton. Hi- health <ii'i not permit 

bit going to I : i ttlod -it Torringford, Oonueotleat, 

used i'.v all ' north "f 

Muniuii'l, exoept kht [roqn 



588 ELIHU SPENCER. 

•went to the Susquehanna Indians ; and Governor Belcher assured 
them, once and again, of his kindness and respect, and that they 
should have all his encouragement and assistance, by letters to 
the king's governors where they may pass, and to the sachem, or 
chief, of those Indians. They were discouraged, as to their in- 
tended journey, by learning that the Susquehanna Indians greatly 
objected to entertaining them without the consent of the Six 
Nations. They were subject to them, and stood in great fear of 
them, and insisted that they should go to the Six Nations first. 
Spencer and Strong went with Governor Shirley to treat with the 
Six Nations about receiving missionaries. The Oneidas were par- 
ticularly dealt with : they appeared free and forward in consent- 
ing. Edwards regarded them as superior in moral qualities to all 
the other Indians, and says they were held in high esteem by the 
other nations of the confederacy. 

Having made his arrangements as to the field of his labour, he 
went to Boston, and was ordained, September 14, 1748, as a mis- 
sionary to the Oneidas. Delay occurred from the want of an 
interpreter ; but, in the winter, one was found, and the people of 
Northampton engaged to support her. It was a woman who had 
been a captive among the Caughnawagas, in Canada. He pro- 
ceeded in the winter, with his interpreter, to Onoquaqua, (now 
Unadilla,) in Otsego county, New York, on the head-waters of the 
Susquehanna, one hundred and seventy miles southwest of Albany, 
and one hundred and thirty miles distant from any white settle- 
ment. 

He continued there till the spring, through many difficulties 
and hardships, having little or no success ; for his interpreter was 
accompanied by her husband,* a Separatist, and he showed what 
spirit he was of, there in the wilderness. He differed with 
Spencer, and opposed him in his measures. His wife refused to 
interpret but one discourse a week, and did that very unfaithfully. 
She utterly declined assisting him in discoursing to the Indians, 
and conversing with them through the week. 

He left in the spring ; and, not being able to find another inter- 
preter, or a fellow-missionary, he was released from his engage- 
ments. 

He prepared a vocabulary of the language, complete, and of 
great value. 

He was called to Elizabethtown, and installed, September 7, 
1750. Edwards said, " He is a person of very promising 
qualifications; and will hopefully, in some measure, make up the 



* Probably Daniel Marshall, who afterwards became a Baptist preacher, and, 
■with Shubael Stearns, removed to Virginia, and was largely successful in pro- 
moting religion. — Morgan Edwards's MS. History of the Virginia Baptists. 



ELinr spencer. 589 

great loss that people have sustained by the death of Dickin- 
son." 

He married Joanna Eaton, of Eaton's Town, near Shrewsbury, 
New Jersey. 

In October, 1753, the synod directed his pulpit to be supplied 
all the time he shall be absent at the request of his Excellency 
Governor Belcher. Probably he was desired to attend, with the 
New Jersey Commissioners, the Congress at Albany, in the sum- 
mer of 1754, to which seven provinces sent delegates, to treat 
with the Indians, and, in the judgment of the Hon. William 
Smith, to transact the most important business the British Colo- 
nies ever engaged in. Franklin presented a plan for the union of 
the colonies in a general government : it was unanimously adopted 
by the Congress, but rejected by the king. 

Resigning his pastoral charge in 175U, he removed to Jamaica, 
but "never came under any obligation to that people to stay with 
them." In May, 17"> s . he prepared to go as chaplain to the New 
York forces in the expedition against Canada. 

Under dale of July l2. 1759, he sent to President Stiles a sum- 
mar, view of ecclesiastical atl'airs in New York and New Jersey. 
On the Bd of November, he sent some corrections and additions, 
and informed him that he had removed his family to Shrewsbury, 
to reside with his mother-in-law. He laments being so far from 
New ESngland; hut comforts himself that he could keep up a cor- 
respondence with his friends there, by the boats going to New 
York. 

He joined New Brunswick Presbytery, on dismission from Suf- 
folk Presbytery, .May - { K 1761, and supplied Shrewsbury regu- 
larly, going, occasionally, to Middletown Point and Amboy, south- 
ward. In October, 1762, he was directed to spend one-fourth of 
his time at the latter place; and, in 1704, to visit the sea-coast 
toward- Egg 1 [arbour. 

In 17.">"), in answer to pressing supplications from North Caro- 
lina. Spencer and John Brainerd were appointed to go thither; 
but the disturbed state of the oeuntry after Braddook's defeat pre- 
vented their going. I,, m.iv, 1764, the synod, considering the 
importance of having the congregations in that colony pro- 
perly organised, sen! Spencer and MeWherter to form societies, 
help them in adjusting bounds, ordain elders, dispense the sacra- 
i . instrucl tin- people in discipline ami the bee! way to obtain 
the stated ministry. A collection was ordered in all the churches, 
to defray their expenses, and make them a proper acknowledg- 
ment for the damage they may sustain in their domestic affairs. 

: eoord ha- been found of this \i-it. lie was called to < lathy's 
Settlement, now Thy atira, and to Fourth Creek, and was requested 
to settle between the Yadkin and Catawba- 



590 ELIHU SPENCER. 

New Brunswick Presbytery supplied Shrewsbury and Sharp 
River in his absence. On his return, Rodgers and his people re- 
quested the synod that he might supply them four Sabbaths before 
their pastor left them. He received a call, September 28, 1765, 
to St. George's and Appoquinimy, in Lancaster Presbytery. He 
accepted it, and removed thither. The Forest Church, as the 
latter was commonly styled, continued nearly as large and pros- 
perous as under Rodgers; but symptoms of decline appeared. 
Some left as soon as the morning service closed ; and this steadily, 
and so much increased, that the afternoon service was given up by 
his successor. 

At the end of four years, owing to the ill-health of his family, 
he returned to Shrewsbury ; and, a few days after being released, 
he was called, October 17, 1769, to Trenton and Lawrence. He 
joined New Brunswick Presbytery, May 17, 1771, and seems never 
to have been installed. 

A delegate from the Provincial Congress of North Carolina peti- 
tioned the presbytery, December 26, 1775, to send him thither, to 
unite the people in the cause of independence. McWhorter went 
with him. They accomplished little, as Franklin predicted, on 
the first mention of the scheme. 

He died, December 27, 1784. Possessed of fine genius, great 
vivacity, eminent and active piety, he edified the church by his 
talents and example, and "finished his course with joy." His 
talents were prompt, popular, excellent: he was one of the most 
ready extempore speakers of the day. 

He published a pamphlet on the ° Origin and Growth of Epis- 
copacy." 

Among his grandchildren were the Hon. John Sergeant, 
Thomas Sergeant, one of the judges of the Supreme Court of 
Pennsylvania, and the widow of the venerable and beloved Dr. 
Miller. 

What must Spencer have been ! Loved by Brainerd and Ed- 
wards in his youth; the successor of Dickinson and Rodgers in 
the pastoral work ; selected by the governors of two colonies as 
chaplain to the forces on important expeditions ; intrusted by the 
synod with momentous responsibilities among the new settlers in 
Carolina ; and performing those duties so well, that, at the lapse 
of ten years, the Provincial Congress called him from his distant 
home, to allay the conscientious scruples deterring the Scots from 
throwing off their allegiance to Britain. 



SILVANCS WHITE. 691 



SYLVANUS WHITE 

Was born in 1704. His father, Ebenezer White, came, with 
his parents, from England to Massachusetts at an early age, and 
was the minister of Bridgchampton, Long Island, from its first 
Organisation as a parish in 1696. His son graduated at Harvard 
University in 17Jo, and was ordained, by a council, November 17, 
17_:7, pastor of the church of Southampton. He married Phebe, 
only daughter of Hezekiah Howell, of that town. 

While in almost every town on the island, there were confusions 
and divisions growing out of the Great Revival, Southampton 
geems to have dwelt in peace, united in their minister. In the 
formation of Suffolk Presbytery, White and his venerable father 
took an active part, and .Southampton promptly and unanimously 
placed itself under its care, April 37, 1747. Bridgehampton was 
in circumstances of great difficulty: a separation had occurred, 
and much animosity existed. The presbytery "treated with the 
Venerable and aged pastor to resign." He consented to do so ; 
and then, on the settlement of James Brown, they spent much 
time at Mr. Job Parson's, with the people of the Separation, on 
the point, whether they had not violated the rules of the gospel 
hi their treatment of Mr. White. "Much seeming stiffness" ap- 
peared; but, at length, sixteen men and twelve women signed an 
acknowledgment "that, though according to their present light 
they were right as to the cause, they were wrong in the manner.'' 
The aged minister signed a full, humble avowal, that, under M the 
iid awful Qk)WO ttf a holy (Jod, in a time of much disorder, 
temptation, and provocation, he had spoken unadvisedly with his 
lip-; and a.-k<d forgiveness for having spoken to the disparager 
neat of a work of grace, while intending to condemn what seemed 
fraught with evil.'' The S parates wen- then received back. 

On the 8d of Ootober, he wrote to the presbytery, expressing his 

opinion that they had been treated with too much lenity. They 
replied, M the Object of church government was edification, not 

destruction." 

Southampton -hand in the great revival of 17'U. 

White lived, in uninterrupted health, through a ministry of fifty- 
five year-, and, after a week'.- JUnflflflj died, October 22, L782, his 
mind not enfeebled by age, and hi- hope strong and cheerful. He 
lived, honoured and revered, happy ill the affections of a large and 

warmly-attached congregation. He left seven Bona and one (laugh- 
ter: most of these lived to advanced age. They removed; but his 

ion. Dr. Henry White, remained in UU native town, and died there, 

at the age of ninety, in L8 1". 



592 SAMUEL BUELL. 



SAMUEL BUELL 

Was born at Coventry, Connecticut, September 1, 1716, and 
■was* the only son of a wealthy farmer. Awakened at the age of 
seventeen, he early became devotedly pious, and, determining to 
engage in the ministry, entered Yale College at the age of twenty- 
one. He enjoyed the intimate friendship of Brainerd and Youngs, 
and freely opened his heart to them. During his residence in New 
Haven, Whitefield, Tennent, and Davenport preached there, with 
blessed results on the students and the town. In May, before 
graduating, he went over to Southold, the scene of Davenport's 
labours, and found Burr, of Newark, preaching there, it being a 
time of refreshing. 

Buell purposed to spend the usual time in studying divinity ; 
but, by the advice of Edwards and others, the zealous friends of 
the Revival, he was licensed in the fall of 1741, and went forth 
as "a strolling preacher." 

About a monthf after graduating, he was reconciled to Mr. 
Noyes, the pastor of the First Church in New Haven, and was 
licensed in a regular manner by the Association. 

His ministrations were not lifeless : he notes at one time in his 
diary that then, for the first time, when he preached, no tears were 
seen. Wheelock wrote to Bellamy, December 27, 1741, " The 
Lord is with Mr. Buell of a truth; hell trembles before him." 

He came to Northampton, January 27, 1742, Edwards before 
leaving home having left to him the free use of his pulpit. " From 
what I had heard of him," says Mrs. Edwards,! "and of his suc- 
cess, I had strong hopes there would be great effects from his la- 
bours." Religion was then at a lower ebb in the town than it 
had been of late. "A number of the zealous people from Suf- 
field" came with him, and continued some time. His first service 
was a lecture preached in the afternoon ; in the latter part, one or 
two appeared much moved, and after the blessing, when the people 
were going out, several others. To the mind of Mrs. Edwards, 
there was the clearest evidence that God was present in the con- 
gregation on the work of redeeming love ; and, in the clear view 
of this, she was all at once filled with such intense admiration of the 
wonderful condescension and grace of God in returning to North- 
ampton, as overwhelmed her soul, and immediately took away her 



* Memoir in Connecticut Evangelical Magazine. 

| MS. Journal of Rev. Ebenezer Parkman, in Tracy's Great Awakening. 

X Diary: quoted in S. E. Dwight's Memoir of Edwards. 



SAMUEL BUELL. 593 

bodily strength. They remained in the meeting about three hours 
after the exercises were over: during most of the time, her bodily 
strength was overcome, while her heart was lifted up in adoration 
and praise, and she conversed with those near her in a very earnest 
maimer. 

Boell and others returned home with her; and, while conversing 
on the Divine goodness, the intenseness of her feelings took away 
her bodily Btrength : and her mind was so impressed with a sense of 
the love of Christ and bis immediate presence, that she could with 
difficulty refrain from leaping for joy. The next day, before going 
I tang, she sunk down twice, helpless, and was carried to her 

Led faint with joy while contemplating the glories of the heavenly 
World. The next two days she could not refrain leaping for joy. 
Buell spent almost the whole time in religious exercises with the 
people, in public or private, they continually thronging him: they 
were exceedingly moved, crying out in great numbers in the meet- 
ing-house, and some lying for twenty-four hours motionless, with 
their Bensefl locked up under strong imaginations, as though they 
went to heaven and saw unutterable things. One day, at meal- 
time, while Buell sp«>ke of the glories of the upper world, Mrs. 
Edwards was so affected with views of the great Comforter that 
her Strength lied, her limbs grew cold, and for an hour she con- 
tinued expressing to those around her deep and joyful sense of the 
I ce and divine excellence of the Comforter. The next day, 

Pomeroy broke forth in the language of j<>y, thankfulness, and 
praise, and, for nearly an hour, led them to rejoice in the visible 
presence, and adore His infinite goodness and condescension* 
"Words were not made, he said, to express these things. " 

Buell remained a fortnight after Edwards's return: the whole 
town -remed to be in a continual commotion day and night; great 

numbers were believed to be the subjects of hopeful conversion. 
The effects were the most amasing in the case of professors. "The 
interposition of Satan soon became very apparent, and caution and 

pains -afy tO keep many of the people from running 

wild." 

I [i then -et out on a tour toward i Boston. 

The letter on "Tie- State of Religion in New England since Mr. 
Whitefield's Visit," statet that Boston had just been risked by"a 
Strolling preacher, who lefi oollege last year, ignorant of the Erst 
principle- of learning, not able to -peak two sentences correctly;" 
and, though he uttered "only stupid stuff, you could not add one. 
to his aucuenoe*" Se adds, "The church of England incn 

bul Dr. Cutler speak- another language: — "The ill effects 

of Whitefield's risit would bave worn off, but others with his spirit 

i on the design with too great success." He enumerates 

J. , along wiih Tennent, Rodgsrs,and Davenport, among " those 

38 



594 SAMUEL BUELL. 

who afflict us, and through whom the enthusiasm was still breaking 
out in 1743." 

Buell was thought to be in a consumption when he was ordained 
by a council, in 1743, as an evangelist, — a thing almost unknown 
at that time in New England. The New Haven Association classed 
him and Brainerd with "strolling preachers that were most dis- 
orderly.'' 

The Society in Canterbury having settled a minister in opposi- 
tion to the communicants, the latter withdrew, and were excluded 
from the use of the meeting-house. Buell was threatened with 
prosecution for having preached to the Separate meeting. One of 
the instances of sinful conduct charged on the excellent Philemon 
Bobbins, pastor of Branford, was "his earnestness in improving 
strolling preachers, more especially in a meeting carried on in his 
own house, by Brainerd and Buell, to the dishonour of religion, 
the just offence of many, and the destruction of peace and gospel 
order." Robbins replied, "I cannot but think the meeting car- 
ried on by them had a good effect ; but it had some unhappy attend- 
ants, and I believe neither they nor I could carry on a meeting 
just in that form again." 

Brainerd, in his small circuit in the winter of 1742-3, met 
"dear brother Buell, spent some time with him, and preached my 
sermon on Deuteronomy viii. 2, before him. I love him dearly ; 
but I see the Lord has not dealt with him just as he has with me." 
Buell, while lamenting errors and extravagance, happily avoided 
the mistake of seeing nothing but wildfire and false religion on 
every side. He probably said to Brainerd, as Wheelock did to 
Bellamy, April 11, 1742, "I am sorry to hear of your low liv- 
ing, and that religion runs so very low with you. Blessed be 
God, it is not so with us ; there is much of the presence of God in 
these parts. I verily believe that one thing that clogs religion 
among you is people's so frequently censuring one another, and 
beating down weak Christians. I think it less wrong to religion, 
under present circumstances, to let two hypocrites alone upon a 
false foundation for the present, than to pull down one of God's 
children. The way to discover hypocrites is to build up God's 
children: hypocrites can't eat children's bread; if they do for a 
while, it won't nourish them, and they will soon show their condi- 
tion : but, if you pull down Christians with them, they all look 
alike ; it is hard to distinguish until they are worn out with trouble 
and discouraged, and others that are setting out are discouraged by 
the sight." 

In 1745, he was on his way to the South, when he met with 
Burr, who had just returned from attending a council held at 
Easthampton, to heal the divisions and secure the settlement of a 
pastor there. Tennent, of Freehold, and David Brainerd and 



SAMUEL BOLL. 595 

Dickinson, had been members, and the last drafted the views of 
the council. Burr had recommended the people to call Buell, their 
first choice being Brainerd; and he now urged Buell to go thither 
at once. 

Easthampton was settled from New England in 1648, and had, 
for the first thirty-six or thirty-eight years, the Rev. Thomas 
James, and then the Rev. Nathaniel Huntting, for half a century. 
Davenport came there in 1739, and under his first sermon twenty 
as.]-.- converted: this was the first dropping of a shower of hea- 
venly influence. One hundred were renewed to repentance; but 
the vain imagination seized some that this outpouring of the Spirit 
was, as it were, 8 renewing of the gospel dispensation, and that 
the enuvert- were bound to come out froin among them who could 
got approve of the new ways and the new notions. It was like the 
running of a ploughshare through the greensward, causing the 
rammer rain to gully out the soil down to the foundation of the 
hills. A large separation from Mr. Huntting ensued, with the ordi- 
nary average of reproaches and recriminations. His extreme age 
made the good pastor anxious, in 1744, to retire from his charge. 
A majority of the people made out a call for a minister; but the 
want <>f harmony was so great that the council refused to proceed 
to the ordination. 

Under these circumstances, on the 9th of October, Buell came 
in the fulness of the blessing of the gospel of Christ. His first 
sermon was from 1 Corinthians ii. 2: — " 1 determined to know 
nothing but Jesus Christ) and him crucified." "Notwithstanding 
the many untoward and ever-to-be-lamented circumstances attend- 
ing the revival under Davenport, about sixty were added soon after 
ettlement of Buell. By his efforts and faithful preaching, 

harmony was in a good measure restored, and lasting and danger- 

on- consequences prevented." lie was installed, September 19, 
1746: Edwards preached on the occasion.* 

In April, 17 17, he assisted in forming Suffolk Presbytery. The 

question was debated among his people, whether those who had 
separated from Mr. Huntting in 1711. not being communicants, 
should he admitted to church privileges without an acknowledg- 
ment of then- fault. The Presbytery of Suffolk decided that all 
baptised persona were subject to discipline, ami thai they ought to 

make penitential reflections on their conduct. They directed, t 
October 26, 17 1'.'. that they should publicly make this acknowledg- 
ment: — "I acknowledge that my separation from the Rev. Mr. 

Huntting*! ministry, and speaking reproachfully of him in a time 

• :it difficulty and ignoranoe of church government, tl. 

i ,,. ||, . ... | , . . ... 
f Prime ii 



596 SAMUEL BUELL. 

season of special Divine influence, was contrary to the order of the 
gospel, and the rules of discipline in Christ's visible church; and 
such divisive principles as were the spring of my separation, I now 
renounce with sorrow, desiring forgiveness of all whom I have 
offended, and resolve, by Divine assistance, upon a regular course 
for time to come." 

His preaching* was in demonstration of the Spirit, in great 
plainness, with a remarkable degree of animation. He was often 
heard to say he would not be in the condition of the unconverted 
sinner for thousands of worlds, even for one hour ; for, in that 
hour, he might die and be lost to eternity. He was never heard 
to utter a prayer, however short, in which petitions to the Holy 
Spirit did not form a prominent part. In May, 1749, he gave 
Davenportf an account of a very considerable work of awakening 
at that time in his congregation, especially among the young. 
He afterwards spoke of it as a small harvest in comparison with 
the great ingathering of 1764. Eighty were added to the com- 
munion during the first eighteen years of his settlement. He 
wrote, on the 27th of March, 1764, to the Rev. Jonathan Barber,! 
of Groton, Connecticut, "For many weeks God has been pre- 
paring his way: his own children have been remarkably re- 
plenished with love, holy joy, and unutterable groaning for the 
outpouring of the Holy Spirit. Our assemblies have been nume- 
rous and solemn : sermon after sermon seemed to fasten arrows of 
conviction in the hearts of sinners. But, for a week past, heaven 
and hell have seemed to meet and reign here. God's people have 
almost all been favoured with such manifestations of the Divine 
glory, and such communications of light, love, joy, and comfort, 
and been under such labouring pains, and in such agonies of dis- 
tress, as though soul and body could scarcely contain. I could 
not have believed it till I saw it. But oh, the agonies and cries, 
the piercing cries and importunities for mercy ! Afternoon and 
evening we remained in the house of God till nine o'clock. There 
were upwards of a thousand persons present, and all impressed : 
pews, alleys, stairs, seats, contained distressed souls. The power 
of God came like a flash of lightning, bowing our assemblies, and 
producing the most amazing agony of soul, and cries. My house 
was early filled and until ten at night. Scores of people were 
under great concern, and many children, of from eight to twelve 
years." He adds, in allusion to the miracle of Zarephath, 
" When the vessels are full, the oil will be stayed. My own spi- 
ritual exercises have been in proportion to this extraordinary 



* Dr. Davis. f Life of Edwards. 

X Stiles's MSS., Yale College. 



SAMUEL BUELL. 597 

He wrote for the press, "as a hurried man," under date of Sep- 
tember 25, 1765, an account of this signal mercy. It first ap- 
peared on the 18th and 19th of March, and thirty or forty were 
found to be under exercise of mind. The next meeting was ob 
the 22d : one hundred came to converse with him, of whom six oi 
■even were above seventy. Some had been under concern since 
they heard Davenport, and BOW their anxiety hopefully issued in a 
saving chau 

Be was greatly aided by "a body of solid, judicious, old dis- 
One hundred and fifty were added to the church; ninety- 
nine ob one Sabbath. 

\ thaniel Hazard, of New York, wrote to Bellamy, June 18, 
1764, "I have ju-t been down to the east end of Long Island, with 
my wife, to see the work of God going on there, and to believe for 
myself: and. I must declare, I never beheld any thing equal to it 
in my life. The fear of God falls upon all flesh there, and heaven 
seems to have come down to earth: and their religion, like holy 
Job's, makes them abhor themselves. Go and see." The Rev. 
John Murray, afterwards of Newhiiryport, and then recently ar- 
rived from Scotland, wrote to Moorhead, at Boston, that he had 
often desired to Bee such remarkable displays of grace as he had 
heard of from him, and that now he had seen what exceeded all 

he had heard. "Not," he adds, "that all was to his mind; but, 

while so much metal is put into the pot, you must expect some 
dross. The people scarcely consented to be dismissed at eleven" 

at night, and the Separates were ready to renew the extrava- 
gancies of Davenport. 

The awakcBing was general throughout the island. Buell 
laboured extensively, and made a tour through ESast Jersey: his 
instrumentality was highly honoured. Whitefield, during the 
Bummer of 1764, says, M My late excursions ob Lobs Island have, 

1 brOSt, been blessed." These excursions were made at the oloSS 

of January, 1764 1 he preaohedeal Basthampton, Bridgehamp- 

ton. Soiitliold, and Shelter Bland. Buell does not name White- 
held, but - iv-. *• In the beginning of the year, there appeared 
some hopeful tokens that the Lord was preparing his own way for 
I gracious risitation." Whitefield wrote from Boston, in May, to 

Colonel DeriBg, "An I is Slither Bland become a Patmosf 

Blessed be God 1 What eejUMH a God in Christ do for his 
people?" 

Buell mentions that they did riot DM the WOT&OOnvertto relation 

• who -.cii,cd truly regenerated. 
During the war of the EtevolntioB, hie church was Bpared from 
the deseeratioD and injury which the British troops bo commonly 
committed on the i-land. I!-- was a decided Whig, bul eBJoyed 

the friend- 1 . n and Sir William Ki>kine. lie 



598 SAMUEL BUELL. 

was a gentleman in his manners, cheerful and sprightly: they 
liked his society, and treated him with deference. 

The Rev. Henry Davis, D.D., President of Hamilton College, 
was in his fifteenth year, when, " after a long and alarming season 
of apathy, the Revival commenced in 1785." It was a novel and 
an affecting scene. The impression of the events was, in 1833, 
still wellnigh as strong and fresh upon his mind as the events of 
yesterday. " Buell was eminently a man of God : the things evi- 
dently uppermost in his mind, and which lay with most interest on 
his heart, were the glory of God and the salvation of souls. 
There were many living in Suffolk, in the vigour of manhood, who 
had been brought to seek and embrace Christ through Davenport. 
Buell had not wholly lost the fire of his youth. He dwelt much — 
as he ever had done, but now with more than usual directness and 
power — on the character and perfections of God, his sovereignty, 
his eternal purposes, the strictness and purity of his holy law, the 
mercy through the atonement of Christ, the native depravity of 
the heart, its entire alienation from God, and man's total help- 
lessness. The work was powerful. In six or eight months, 
more than one hundred were enrolled among the children of 
God." 

Soon after this he lost his only son, who died February 7, 
1787, aged sixteen, with a good hope through grace. In 1791, 
another season of refreshing was granted, and forty were 
added to the church. On the 1st of January, 1792, he preached 
an historical discourse of great interest. 

He died July 19, 1798. 

He was the intimate friend of Brainerd. He acted a prominent 
part in the great awakening of 1741-43, and related to Dr. Davis 
events in which he was personally concerned, which filled him with 
astonishment. He was one of the very few men of that time whose 
subsequent labours were much blessed. President Stiles said, 
" That man has done more good than any other that ever stood on 
this continent." 

" Buell was ardent in temperament, laborious in study, well 
read in the history of the church and the writings of the fathers, 
and a thoroughly-learned theologian. As a preacher, he was more 
popular in his manner than was common at that day, exhibiting 
clear and forcible views of truth and duty. His earnest, melting 
flow of soul convinced his hearers that he would gladly pluck 
them as brands out of the burning. He embraced cordially, and 
preached with great distinctness and emphasis, the characteristic 
doctrines. The excesses of his own early labours he had reviewed 
with cool and prayerful deliberation: he looked on them with 
regret and humiliation. Except in seasons of revival, he had 
little intercourse with his people. At other times, he rarely 



JOHN MOFFAT. 599 

visited any but the sick, and was never present at the religious 
conferences." 

A very considerable number of his sermons was published, and 
a poem, " Youth's Triumph," dated January 20, 1775. 

Be was married throe times: his widow survived him nearly 
fifty years. His daughter, the widow of the Rev. Dr. "Woolworth, 
of Bridgehampton, died at Homer, New York, in 1845, aged 
seveiitv-iive. He buried eight of his children, and saw all the 
friends of his youth, and of his riper years, descend to the grave 
before him. 

He mentions that, in a certain year, he wrote out all his ser- 
mons in full, but preached entirely without notes. His vigour re- 
mained till old age, and, almost at the close of life, he rode four- 
teen miles, and preached, and returned home. At the age of 
eighty-live, the degree of D.D. was conferred upon him. 



JOHN MOFFAT, 

Probably from Scotland, graduated at Nassau I lull in 1749. 
He was ordained, in 1751, pastor of Wallkill, in Orange county, 
Hen Fork, by New York Presbytery. Difficulties arose, whioh 

led to bis dismission, and the formation of an Associate church 
in .Welytown, which obtained, in 1705, the llev. Hubert Annan 
for it- minister. 

Mo flat resided in the bounds of Newcastle Presbytery, in 1773, 
without charge, and without being employed in the ministry. Ho 
livid, to the close of his days, at Little Britain, in Orange 
eonnty, and engaged in teaching. De Witt Olinton* was one of 

his pupils. 

He died April 22, 1788. 

* HosUCk !.|Q. 



600 JOSEPH TATE. 



JOSEPH TATE 



Was received as a licentiate, by Donegal Presbytery, April 1, 
1748, and was sent to Lower Pennsborough, (Silver Spring,) 
Marsh Creek, and Conewago. On the 14th of June, he was 
called to Donegal ; and, soon after, the Rev. Andrew Bay, of the 
New-Side Presbytery of Newcastle, accused him of having 
preached false doctrine at the Three Springs, (Big, Middle, and 
Rocky.) He was acquitted, October 25, and accepted the call 
from Donegal, — they giving seventy pounds to buy a plantation 
and seventy pounds salary. He was ordained, November 23, 
1748 : Samuel Thomson presided. He spent eight Sabbaths in 
the following fall in Virginia. 

Immediately after his installation he was married, December 
15, 1748, to Margaret, the eldest daughter of Boyd, of Octorara. 
Her father gave her, besides a silk gown, a bed and its furniture, a 
horse and saddle, and nearly every article for housekeeping; all 
of which are carefully entered in his book. 

Tate found little or no satisfaction on the union, the two parties 
in the presbytery being so nearly equal in numbers, and so tho- 
roughly divided in sentiment. He withdrew, and, finally, had 
leave, in 1768, to join the Second Philadelphia Presbytery. He 
was sent by the synod to Western Virginia and North Carolina ; 
and, in the following March, he was called to Coddle Creek. The 
presbytery asked his congregation, Should the call be placed in 
bis hands? and they immediately requested that his relation to 
them might be dissolved. A committee was sent to reconcile the 
difference, and they did not prosecute their demand for his dis- 
mission. 

He died October 11, 1774, aged sixty-three. Dr. Martin says, 
" He was eccentric, but fearless in reproving vice and the errors 
of the day." 

His son, the Rev. Matthew Tate, graduated at the College of 
Philadelphia, was licensed by Newcastle Presbytery, and was em- 
ployed as a supply in several presbyteries. He visited the new 
settlements west of Albany, and went to the Southern States. 
He received holy orders as a deacon from the hands of Bishop 
White, and was rector of St. Matthew's, South Carolina, from 
1789 to 1792, when he removed to Beaufort, and had the charge 
of the parish till his death, October 7, 1795. 

His mother married James Anderson, the son of her husband's 
predecessor, and her daughter Jane married his son. 



SAMPSON SMITH. 601 



SAMPSON SMITH, 

From Ireland, was received as a licentiate by Donegal Presby- 
tery, April 3, 1750. The records for the next nine years being lost, 
we know not certainly the date of his ordination, which waa re- 
ported to synod in May, 17~>J. In the spring of 175-, he spent 
eight Sabbaths in Virginia. He succeeded Thorn, at Chestnut 
Level, and was married by Tate to Agnes, the third daughter of 
Boyd, of Octorara. lie had an academy, which had B high repu- 
tation, and it was continued by him till his death. 

The union of the synods placed him in connection with the New- 
Side ministers, and, a charge of intemperance being preferred 
against him, he looked on them as the movers of it, and the abet- 
tors of his defamers ; while they regarded the Old-Side men as de- 
termined to clear him by excluding all the evidence on which the 
prosecution relied. There were doubtless many things to blame on 
both Bides. Two of the presbytery were his brothers-in-law, ami 
his father-in-law had been invited to sit ami vote as a correspond- 
ent ; while, on the other hand, the New-Side men were hardly en- 
titled to be regarded as impartial judges, lie was acquitted, and 
the prosecutrix appealed to the synod. The synod ordered a com- 
mittee to meet at Little Britain and take up the whole matter de 
novo. The synod, in reviewing the minutes of the committee, 
judged that the punishment inflicted was less than the evidence 
warranted; and in this they showed the leaning of the majority 
against the Old-Side men, who were in a hopeless minority. The 
evidence of two rude girls who, in the midst of unbecoming con- 
duct with B parcel Of ma students, were driven, by Smith, out of a 
chamber with blows and harsh words, was hardly entitled to be 
led: they said he was drunk : he said they were shameless, 
and that blows, not words, were the reproofs the case demanded. 

Be withdrew from the synod, and, on the final yielding of the 
synod, he consented to join Newcastle Presbytery. He did so, in 
1768, and was suspended the next year, but restored in 1771. The 
synod then sent him to the South Branch of Potomac for six 
months, and the next year for two months. His suspension was 
renewed in 1771, and aeverremoTed. He was struck by lightning, 

and died. 



ROBERT McMORDIE — CHAUNCEY GRAHAM. 



ROBERT McMORDIE 

Was ordained by Donegal Presbytery, in 1754, pastor of Upper 
Marsh Creek and Round Hill.* He released, in August, 1760, 
Mr. McConaughy, whose bond he held for the sure payment of his 
salary. In the following January he was dismissed, the presbytery 
alleging that there was a coolness towards him on the part of his 
people. This he denied. He accepted, in 1762, a call to Hanover. 
He also withdrew, and was allowed to join the Second Philadelphia 
Presbytery in 1768. The next year they sent him south, and the 
synod sent him, in 1772, to Virginia and Carolina. In May, 1777, 
he was called to Tinkling Spring, New Dublin, Reedy Creek, and 
Fourth Creek. He went south again in 1784. 

He was a chaplain in the war of Independence, and a member 
of the Order of the Cincinnati. On their roll it is entered that he 
was " deranged" on a certain day, — a military use of the word, to 
signify his retirement from the rank of chaplain. 

He died May 22, 1796. He was married, December 12, 1754, 
to Janet, the second daughter of Adam Boyd. The Rev. Robert 
McMordie Laird was a descendant of his. 



CHAUNCEY GRAHAM 



Was the son of the Rev. John Graham, of Southbury, Connec- 
ticut, whose three sons entered the ministry : John, the eldest, was 
settled at Suffield, Connecticut, and Richard Crouch, the youngest, 
at Pelham, New Hampshire. 

Chauncey was named after his grandfather, the Rev. Mr. Chaun- 
cey, of Hadley. He graduated at Yale in 1747. His father was a 
native of Scotland. He was a zealous promoter of the Great Re- 
vival, and grieved much that he saw no fruit, and that every fast 
occasion was attended with some gloom and the frowns of God. 
But on February 17, 1741-2, he wrote to Bellamy, f "I bless 
God there is some stir in my own house : I hope God is about to 
do great and glorious things for my poor Chauncey; he has been 
under soaking convictions a considerable time, and has a great ten- 
derness of conscience, and seems bent on the way for Zion. Do 

* Near York. f Bellamy papers. 



CHAUNCET GRAHAM. 603 

pray for him especially." Soon after, Southbury was graciously 
visited. 

Hi.- father, in October, 1744, visited Hopewell and Lawrence, 
New Jeney, as a candidate for settlement. New Brunswick Pre* 
bvtery at that time advised New Milford, in Connecticut, and New 
Brunswick, to try to get his son John; and they wrote to the Con- 
Bociation at Danbury to send him to those places. 

Chauncey Graham was ordained by a council, January 29, 1750, 
pastor of liumbout and Poughkeepsie, in Dutchess county, New 
York. Rumbout, near Fishkill, was orga ni sed as a church, July 

8, 1748; Poughkeepsie was "gathered" in July, 1750. The Rev. 
{Slisha Kent,* of Philippi, wrote to Bellamy, January 29,1749-50, 

"The council consisted of Messrs. Stoddard, Case, and Judson, 
and their messengers, and one messenger more. I think it's a pity 
Mr. .Mills and the rest of you sent for, did not attend. It would, I 
am persuaded, have prevented the ordination at Fishkill, or had a 
tendency to have united the church and others disaffected, in 
Case it had gone on. To me it looks dark when ministers are back- 
ward to appear in rach eases and set according to the light they 
have for God, leaving all consequences with him alone. I hear 

some of the council say they have reconciled the contending par- 
iee; 1 doubt the wound is only skinned over: however, time will 
discover how it is; we must hope for the best. 

•• By what 1 can hear, I am the only person blamed in New Eng- 
land that the ordination did not go OU before; but this I know, we 
were all agreed in it, it was no1 best it should go on, Mr. Graham 
not excepted. If it does well, I hope I shall be so happy as to re- 
joice in it ; I think I can say, wherein I have acted in the business, 
it has been with some degree of uprightness." 

Hi- preached, September 10, 1751, a sermon against the Sepa- 
. which he published, with the title, "Enthusiasm Detected;' 1 
and this may have h-d to hi> giving up 1 'oughkeepsie, September 
29, 1752. He published a sermon, preached February 25, 1761, 
on "Why do the heathen rage?" It was in the midst of the 
French War. Be demands, "What's the matter with the Indians?" 
and proceeds to -how the causes why the fury of the savages had 

been let loose Ofl the frontier. Having accompanied the troops as 

chaplain, his congregation inquired of the presbytery, in IT*''!, 
whether, by accepting the chaplaincy, his pastoral relation had not 
been dissolved. The reply was in the negative. 

1 [e aai annexed to I tutohess Presbj tery on its being received by 

aod in 17<> : ;. The records for many years are in his clear, 

beautiful hand. Be preached at the opening of its sessions, in 

Albany, September 9, 1765, on the federal holiness of children. 

I 



604 SAMUEL KENNEDY — BENJAMIN CHESNUT. 

The presbytery requested him to publish the sermon. He speaks 
contemptuously of those who hold that "saving grace is the only 
qualification for participation in the sacraments," and charges 
them with acting like "petty deities'" in scrutinizing the heart. 

Being dismissed from Rumbout. he supplied Fishkill, and opened 
an academy there. Among his pupils was the Rev. Dr. John H. 
Livingston, that eminently pious minister and able divine, so use- 
ful in the Reformed Dutch Church. 

Whitefield, writing July 20, 1770, speaks of congregations on 
the North River, "large, attentive, and affected," and mentions 
Fishkill and New Rumbout. 

He took his dismission from the presbytery in 1773, and died in 
1784. 

He married the daughter of Theodorus Van Wyck, one of his 
elders : his son, T. V. W. Graham, was a judge of probate, and an 
elder in the church in Albany. 



SAMUEL KENNEDY, 

Born in Scotland, graduated at Nassau Hall in 1749, and was 
taken on trials, by New Brunswick Presbytery, on the 26th of De- 
cember of that year. He was licensed, May 18, 1750, and was 
ordained minister of Baskingridge, New Jersey, June 25, 1751. 
He exercised the office of a physician and a teacher. His labours 
in his appropriate work were blessed to the upbuilding of the 
church and the increase of believers in numbers, in sound know- 
ledge and godliness. 

He died August 31, 1787. 



BENJAMIN CHESNUT 



Was born in England, graduated at Nassau Hall in 1748, and 
was licensed by New York Presbytery. He was received under 
the care of New Brunswick Presbytery, October 3, 1749, and was 
ordained, September 3, 1751. He was settled at Woodbury and 
Timber Creek, New Jersey. When Lawrence was sent to spend 
the winter of 1751 at Cape May, Chesnut supplied his pulpit, in 



JAMES BROWN*. 605 

the Forks of Delaware. At his request he was dismissed from his 
charge in May. 1753, though he continued to supply the congrega- 
tions for a while. He whs sent to Fagg's Manor, to Forks of 
Delaware, and to Charlestown and New Providence. He seems to 
have become the stated .-apply of the two last-named congregations, 
and t'» have Bottled there in 17o6, on a promise of forty-four 
pounds yearly. In 1763, there were seventy pounds due: thero 
being do prospect of las being paid, he was dismissed by Philadel- 
phia Presbytery, in May: hut, in November, the congregations 
offered to make ap fifty pounds yearly, ami the presbytery left it 
to him to accept it or not. He appears to have gone to the Smth. 
in the fall of 1765: in 1707, he was sent to Timber Creek. He 
taught school about twenty miles from Philadelphia, and died in 
ITT.",. 



JAMES BROWN 



Was probably born in Connecticut, and graduated at Yale in 
1717. lie was licensed in October of that year, at one of the 
earliest meetings of Suffolk Presbytery. The venerable and aged 
JSbenezer White, of Bridgehampton, being greatly distressed by 

tie- Beparatioo of BOme of his people, Brown was sent for, to endea- 
vour to unite the people upon him, and prepare the way for the 

iation of the pastor, lie was successful, and was called soon 
after. His ordination took place June 14, 1748. Azariah Horton 
prayed; Sylvanua White preached from Titus ii. 7, 8; Prime "in- 
troduced the solemnity," propounded the questions, and prayed; 
Buell gave the righl hand of fellowship; Prime exhorted the peo- 
ple, and lounga closed with prayer. Buell* wrote to Jonathan 
Edwards of the revival which at that period blessed East 11 amp- 
ton, and "of a yet greater work at Bridgehampton, under the 

ministry of Mr. Brown, a very pious and prudent young man." 
He needed all prudence: some oi the people of the separation had 
returned to their duty, but were restive. In August, 1749, Dr. 
< • of Bridgehampton, having recently experienced e bl< 

on hi- soul, desired the presbytery to take measures for allowing 

him in a BOOTl time to pnaeh. They deferred the matter. A.b0Ut 

fchia period, the Rev. John Paine] established a Separate Church 

on Strict Congregational principles, and a meeting-house wa- built 



* i' rd*. Suffolk Prwbytery, 

♦ Mr. Paine iru — l j > ■ t ■ I • - * - 1 irhOt itandlng tt tha 'J'">r of b utbold, 

in April. 



606 NAPHTALI DAGGET. 

midway between Bridgehampton and Southampton. Brown was in 
very melancholy services, and implored Bellamy most piteously, 
year by year, to visit his people and endeavour to allay the heart- 
burnings and establish just principles of religion. He did much 
good, amid all his trials. The signal refreshing of 1764 left an 
abiding influence till the Revolution. The loss of health compelled 
him to lay aside his pastoral work in March, 1775: he died, April 
22, 1788. The congregation remained vacant till 1787, but was 
blessed with a great revival in 1783. 

Brown was "distinguished* for the soundness of his theological 
views, and ably defended the doctrines of the Reformation." 

In recording his dismission, the presbytery refer to his melan- 
choly circumstances, and speak of him as a sound, orthodox, judi- 
cious, spiritual preacher, laborious and successful. 



NAPHTALI DAGGET 



Was born at Attleborough, Massachusetts, in 1727, and gradu- 
ated at Yale in 1748. He had been taken on trials by the moderator 
and Mr. Youngs, of Brookhaven, and, on appearing before Suffolk 
Presbytery, was licensed, August 9, 1749, "till next session," 
according to their custom, and was sent to Smithtown. Obadiah 
Smith and George Phillips, Esq., presented a call for him, May 22, 
1751 ; and he was directed to prepare a sermon on Titus iii. 5, 6, 
and an exegesis on "An Christus, qua Mediator, remittat peccata?" 
He was ordained, September 18, 1751, being the first pastor ever 
settled in Smithtown. Brown, of Bridgehampton, preached from 
1 Timothy iv. 24 ; Prime, of Huntingdon, stated the grounds of 
Presbyterian ordination, "took the engagements" of pastor and 
people, "managed the incorporation" of three men and four women 
into a visible church ; "White, of Southampton, gave the right hand 
of fellowship ; Horton, the missionary to the Indians, exhorted the 
people ; and Youngs closed with prayer. His stay was short, the 
presbytery learning, November 6, 1755, that "he had been dismissed 
by a vote of the congregation." The presbytery, sensible that the 
support had been inadequate, regularly released him from his 
charge: soon after, he was elected Professor of Divinity in Yale 
College. 

President Stilesf said that the design of Mr. Clap in having a 
professor of divinity appointed was to keep up the character of the 

* Dr. Prime. ■}■ Stiles's MSS., Yale College. 



NAPHTALI DAGGET. 607 

college for orthodoxy, and to prevent Jersey College from drawing 
away the students. He gravely notes down the names of those 
Fellows whom Clap could influence, and the motives by which 
those who were undecided were brought to concur with him. 

The legislature,* in 1753, resolved, that one principal end in 
erecting colleges was to supply the church in this colony with a 
learned, piotlS, and orthodox ministry; and, for this end, it is ne- 
eeassxy that the students have the best instructions in divinity, and 
have the beet patterns of preaching set before them; they, there- 
fore, recommended a genera] contribution in all the religious Booie- 
■>• Bottling a professor of divinity. Owing to the French War 
and extraordinary taxes, the friends of the measure did not avail 
themselves of this recommendation, but took up subscriptions, and 
happily succeeded. 

The rector and the Fellows nominated Dagget, in September, 
1755, to be Professor of Divinity, though he had been ordained 
only fair years. Upon their application to the presbytery, he was 
dismissed, and went to New Haven in November, and preached 
with general approbation. When he had preached about four 
months in the college, a day (March 3, 1756) was spent in exa- 
mining him on bis principles in religion, his knowledge in divinity, 
casuistry. Scripture history, chronology, and antiquity, and on his 
skill in Hebrew. Qn all those points he satisfied the Corporation. 
The next day he preached from 2 Corinthians ii.2, gave his full 
and explicit consent to all the doctrines of the Westminster Con- 
fession, and to the rules of church discipline established in the 
Churches of this colony, and renounced the principal errors pre- 
vailing at the time. He was then Inaugurated. 

The next movement was to organize a church in the college: 
this was done, in 1 7 ">T, without asking the consent of the Associa- 
tion, on the assumption that a college is, of its very nature, a reli- 
gion- institution. 

A revival followed Dagget's entering on his professorship, though 
not of great extent. 

< >n the decease of President Clan, he was elected his successor, 

and held that office from 1766 to 1777. He retained his profeSBOr- 

Ship till his death. 

When the British attacked New Haven, in July, 1779, he was 
wounded while passing alonj He died, in 1780, of the 

injuries n <• 

lb- mat an instructive and excellent preacher: his sermons, 
enriched with ideas and sound divinity, were doctrinal, experi- 
mental, and pungent II aoceptabli to the legislature, clergy, 
and people. 4 

• Tr . :cUt. f Trumbull. 



608 JONATHAN ELMER — JOHN TODD. 



JONATHAN ELMER, 

Born in New England, graduated at Yale in 1747, and was or- 
dained, by New York Presbytery, pastor at New Providence, New 
Jersey, in October, 1750. The congregation, originally styled 
Turkey, was, on the formation of New Brunswick Presbytery, 
placed under its care, but, on its petition, was restored the nexj 
year to its connection with New York Presbytery. 

Of the first forty years of his ministry, we find no notice beyond 
the fact that he preached from Jeremiah xliv. 4, at the execution 
of Morgan, the Tory who shot Caldwell in cold blood on Elizabeth- 
town Point. 

Elmer said that, though born a Congregationalist, he preferred 
the Presbyterian system, especially because it allowed of appeals 
from the primary courts. 

After serving his people for twoscore years, a violent opposition 
to him commenced ; charges were tabled, and he was acquitted. 
Subsequently eighteen articles of complaint were exhibited against 
him ; but the prosecutor refused to proceed, on learning that, by the 
rules of our church, if on the trial it appeared that they had been 
laid malignantly or rashly, he must be censured openly. His dis- 
mission was asked for in August, 1791 : ninety of his congregation 
remonstrated, but the majority insisted. The presbytery, after 
many fruitless but faithful attempts, dissolved the relation : Elmer 
appealed, and the synod, in session at Albany, in 1793, sustained 
his appeal. He immediately resigned, and was dismissed, October, 
1793. 

He acted as stated supply at Millstone, and occasionally at other 
places, and died June 7, 1807. 



JOHN TODD 



Is said to have been a weaver: he graduated at Nassau Hall in 
1749, and was taken on trials by New Brunswick Presbytery, May 
7, 1750. On the pressing appeal of Davies, the synod, about ten 
days after, recommended the presbytery to endeavour to prevail 
with him, on being licensed, to take a journey to the Southern 
colonics. He was licensed, November 13, and went to Virginia. 
A call was laid before the presbytery, May 22, 1751, and he was 



JOHN TODD. 609 

ordained on his acceptance of it. He was installed, by Hanover 
Presbytery, pastor of Providence, in Louisa county. This was 
"the upper part" of Davies's field, and had, on his urgent recom- 
mendation, called Edwards,* when dismissed from Northampton, 
and had offered him one hundred pounds. "While yet in doubt of 
his acceptance, Daviefl wrote to Bellamy, entreating him to use his 
influence with Edwards, or, if that were vain, to come himself. He 
describee them as a people capable of appreciating solid, judicious 
preaching of the best kind. Daviea delighted in him, and speaks 
of him as his favourite friend: he relied on his judgment in cases 
of importance, and styles him his cautious and prudent friend. 

Whitefield thought, in September, 1754, that Providence seemed 
to point directly to Virginia and the Orphan-House; but in De- 
cember he spoke doubtfully: — "Is the call to Virginia? Who 
knows but an infinitely-condescending God may improve me 
there?" In January he was at Todd's: "fresh doors of useful- 
ness are opening, I trust." He lamented he had not come sooner. 
*'A spirit of conviction and consolation appeared in every congre- 
gation." 

Toddf wrote to Whitefield, June 26, 1755, that "on the day of 
hifl departure multitudes were longing to hear more; the people of 
God drowned in tears, hardy gentlemen weeping for their neglected 
souls. I returned home as one that had sustained some amazing 
loss, and with the desire that 1 might contribute more than ever to 
the salvation of souls. I have had the comfort of many solemn 
Sabbaths since I saw you, when the power of God has attended 
hifl word for sundry weeks together; and in my auditory, which 
was crowded, often I could scarce see a face where tears did not 
indicate the concern of their souls. These appearances have not 
wholly Bed." 

L'olon.l Gordon, of Lancaster county, said, on hearing him at 
the administration of the sacrament, November 1, 1761, "I never 
heard :i sermon, hut one I heard from Mi - . Danes, that I heard with 
more attention and delight. Oh, if the Lord would he pleased to 
send ofl a minister of as much piety as Mr. Todd!" 

lie corresponded with the Rev. Dr. Gordon, of Stepney, near 

London, and obtained, through him. Scientific apparatus and valu- 
able hooks. These In- gate to the Rot. David nice, to aid Tran 

svhania Presb vterv in founding a school. 

* Todd died July 27, L798. 

Hi- daughter married the Kev. l>r. Daniel hfcOalla, ^i' South 

I ina. 



* Bellamy papers. f Gillie*. 

39 



610 CONRAD WORTS — JAMES FINLET. 



CONRAD WORTS, 

Probably licensed* in Germany, in consequence of some diffi- 
culty with the Dutch Reformed Coetus, applied to the Presbytery 
of New Brunswick. The High-Dutch congregation of Rockaway, 
in Lebanon township, New Jersey, addressing the presbytery, 
they referred the matter to the synod, and, after their committee 
had taken the measures suitable to prevent injury or offence to the 
Dutch Reformed body, they took the congregation under their care. 
Worts was taken up as a probationer, September 3, 1751, Rock- 
away asked for him, May 9, 1752, and he was ordained their pastor 
on the 5th of June. 

It being likely he could be more useful in another connection, he 
was dismissed, October 21, 1761, and probably entered into the 
German Reformed body. 



JAMES FINLEY 



Was born in county Armagh, Ireland, in February, 1725, was 
educated under Samuel Blair, at Fagg's Manor, and accompaniedf 
Whitefield to the Orphan-House in Georgia. He probably studied 
theology with his brother Samuel, at Nottingham ; he was licensed 
by Newcastle Presbytery, and ordained pastor of East Nottingham, 
or the Rock, in Cecil county, Maryland, in 1752. This was a 
separation on the rupture from Elk River: the two parties united 
in 1760, McDowell giving up the charge of Elk. He engaged in 
teaching, and some of our best ministers were trained under his 
eye. 

A large emigration to the Redstone country began as soon as 
the lands were exposed to sale. Finley crossed the Alleghanies in 
1765, and again in 1767, in company with his elder, Philip Tanner; 
and, by direction of the synod, he supplied Ligonier and the va- 
cancies beyond the mountains for two months, in 1771-2. His son 
Ebenezer removed in 1772, and became an elder in the congrega- 
tion of Dunlap's Creek. Thirty-four heads of families in the com- 



* The newspapers state that in 1752 seven German ministers arrived in New 
York. f Whitefield's Letters. "Old Red Stone;" by Dr. Joseph Smith. 



JAMES FIXLEY. 611 

munion of his church took up their abode in the "West ; most of 
these were valuable men, and became elders and pillars of churches. 
Three of Finley's sons removed; and he asked a dismission from 
his charge, that he might follow them. His people, with affecting 
solemnity, earnestly protested against the granting it, for he was 
beloved greatly, and useful, and needed not to remove, being well 
off in the world; and that it would be an irreparable loss to part 
with him, especially when all around them were vacancies and no 
prospect of supplying them. lie appealed from the judgment of 

the presbytery, and the synod dissolved the pastoral relation. May 
IT, 1782. He was not dismissed to Redstone Presbytery till April 

26, 17 x -">. and lie was received by that body, June 21. lie was 
called to Rehoboth and Kound Hill, both in the Forks of Youghio- 
gheny, in the fall of 17 s 4, and remained there till his death, Janu- 
ary 6,1795. 

He published a pamphlet, — "An Attempt to set the Levitical Pro- 
hibition in relation to Marriage in a true light." He was greatly 
gricv.d at the decision of the synod in restoring to church privi- 
parties married within the forbidden degrees, and still more 
for making such marriages censurable only so far as they showed 

nntendernese to the scruples or prejudices of well-disposed persons. 

'This discussion probably led the synod, in 1782, to direct him to 

procure a copy of the Adopting Act of 1 Tii'. ». He could not find 

one. In protesting agtfnst (he decision, he said, "Upon the whole, 

although 1 desire not to promote uneasiness, yet, knowing it to be 

my duty to testify against the declensions and dangerous innova- 

ii our church, 1 am obliged by conscience to act as 1 do in 

ud may go further, be oflendecl who will." 

Three of Ins sons, Joseph. Michael, and William, were elders at 

ith. Hi- Bon John Evans Finley settled at Fagg's Manor, 
and was the minister of Bracken, in Mason county, Kentucky, 
during the Great Revival The Rev. Robert M. finley is a grand- 
son oi James Finley. 

On removing 4 to the West, the Supreme Executive Council of 
Pennsylvania intrusted important bosim bs to him, and commissioned 
him a- i justice of the peace and s judge of the Common Pleas; 

Smith: iii.Mi i- Pennsylvania Archives. 



612 EVANDER MORRISON — ROBERT SMITH. 



EVANDER MORRISON 

Was probably a minister from Scotland. He resided in Con- 
necticut in 1748 and '49, and was allowed* twenty-six pounds for 
bis services at East Hartford during the sickness of the pastor in 
1748. In September, 1752, he was directed by Abingdon Presby- 
tery to supply Tehicken and the Forks of Delaware. The next 
year he joined Newcastle Presbytery, and laboured at Middle 
Octorara, then just occupied by Cuthbertson, of the Reformed 
Presbytery. The New Side and the Covenanters worshipped in 
the same house, at different times. Morrison and Cuthbertson 
warmly debated the points in controversy, with the usual result, — 
increased alienation. 

He succeeded Whittlesey at Slate Ridge and Chanceford. No 
mention is made of him, that we have seen, after 1756. 



ROBERT SMITH 



Was bornf in Londonderry, and came with his parents to Ame- 
rica in 1730. They made their home at the Head of Brandy- 
wine. They were pious people; and no doubt their instructions 
and example prepared him to receive, at the age of fifteen, " with 
meekness, the engrafted word" from the lips of Whitefield, on his 
first visit. He studied with Samuel Blair, and was licensed by 
the New-Side Presbytery! of Newcastle, December 27, 1749, and 
was married, on the 22d of the next May, to Miss Betsey Blair, 
the daughter of his preceptor. He accepted a call, October 9, 
1750, to Pequea and Leacock, in Lancaster county, Pennsylvania, 
and was ordained and installed, March 26, 1751. He confined his 
labours to Pequea after October 9, 1759. 

The earlier years of his ministry were signally blest ; the sub- 
sequent period was unmarked by any distinguished display of 
grace, but silent, gentle influences from heaven steadily distilled 
on the work of his hands. He lamented§ that the young gene- 
rally, and so many of his older hearers, were living contentedly 



* Connecticut Ecclesiastical MSS., Hartford. 

| Assembly's Missionary Magazine. J Record in his Bible. 

\ Bellamy papers. 



ROBERT SMITH. 613 

■without Christ. The Anti-Burghers drew away some of his 
people, who enjoyed the ministrations of the father of the 
late excellent and Rev. Dr. Alexander Proudfit, of Salem, New 
York. 

The school at Pequea was prolific in valuable men. Several 
of the pioneers in the Redstone country were trained there, in 
academical Btudiee and theology. Dr. McMillan and Dr. Samuel 
Martin, of Chanceford, were his pupils : the latter regarded him 
as superior in natural gifts and scholarship to his distinguished 
Bona Samuel Stanhope and John Blair. He was of eminent piety, 
u living in heaven." "As a preacher,* his great excellence lay in 
Strong and convincing appeals to the conscience, in the various 
knowledge he discovered of the workings of the human heart, and 
the tenderness with which he led the penitent soul to its true hope 
and rest." "Well acquaintedf with all the subjects necessarily 
connected with theology, remarkably able in exposition of the 
Scripture, he spent much time in meditation and prayer, and was 
entirely abstracted from the world." lie published several ser- 
mons : of only a few of them are any copies to be found in any 
public, library. Bis two sermons on "Saving Faith" were 
reprinted in Scotland, in the " Evangelical Preacher," and are 
s;iid by Dr. Martin to have been the best ever written on that 
subject. 

The depreciation of the Continental currency,]: and the emigra- 
tion beyond the Alleghanies, led him, in August, L782, to ask the 
Presbytery to release him from his charge. They delayed for ;i 
yur, at the earnest request of the people; and, in April, 17M, 
the <ongregation having engaged to compensate in part for his past 
losses, and t<> give him yearly four hundred bushels of wheat, he 
was prevailed OU to stay. It was his privilege to have three SOnS 

enter the ministry: — Dr. Samuel Stanhope Smith, President of 
New Jersey College, Dr. John Blair Smith, President of Hampden 

Sydney and >>f I oiOD College, and Dr. William Ramsey Smith, 

minister of Wilmington, and subsequently settled in the Reformed 
Dutch Churoh. During the blessed revival in Prince Edward 
county, Virginia, in which the labours of his sun John were bo 

highly honoured, the aged man went thither, and "when he BaW 

the grace of God, he was glad; ' for he was a g 1 man, and full 

of the Holy Ghost, and of faith; 1 and he exhorted them, with 
full purpose of bearl to cleave unto the Lord." He spoke of it 
aj quite equal to the wodi of power and grace which, In his 



I Dr. M 

one it Cedar Ghrova 



614 ALEXANDER CUMMING. 

earlier years, he saw, when Whitefield, and Tennent, and Blair, 
were in the land. 

He was moderator of the General Assembly in 1790. 

Returning from Philadelphia, he reached Rockville, Chester 
county, on Saturday evening, and, on Sabbath morning, was 
found lying on the roadside, with his faithful horse beside him. 
He died in a few days, April 15, 1793, greatly honoured and be- 
loved, aged seventy-one, after a ministry of forty-two years. 



ALEXANDER CUMMING 



Was born at Freehold, New Jersey, in 1726. His father, 
Robert Cumming, from Montrose, Scotland, was an elder, and 
often sat in synod. 

He was educated under his maternal uncle, Samuel Blair, and 
studied theology with his pastor, William Tennent. Licensed by 
the New-Side Presbytery of Newcastle, in 1746 or '47, he was 
sent by the synod, in compliance with pressing supplications, and 
spent some time in Augusta county, Virginia. He was the first 
Presbyterian minister that preached within the bounds of Ten- 
nessee. Remaining some time in North Carolina, he married 
Eunice, daughter of Colonel Thomas Polk, the President (in May, 
1775) of the Mecklenburg Convention. 

He was a stated supply in Pennsylvania for some time. Though 
not ordained, he opened the Synod of New York with a sermon, 
in September, 1750. In the following month he was ordained, by 
New York Presbytery, and installed collegiate pastor with Pem- 
berton, in New York. 

Unanimously called, his clear, discriminating mind, his habits 
of close study, his instructive and excellent preaching, his happy 
faculty of disentangling and exhibiting difficult and abstruse 
subjects, peculiarly attracted and delighted his more cultivated 
hearers. The Hon. William Smith, in writing to Bellamy, says, 
" His defect in delivery was not natural, but the effect of bad 
example: his elocution, however, is not, and cannot ever be, as 
prompt as yours." But before the second year of his ministry 
closed, the presbytery was called to consider the difficulties which 
had arisen, and, in 1752, referred the case to the synod. The 
complaints against him were, that, when disabled by sickness, he 
did not invite Pemberton to preach; that he insisted on his right 
as pastor to sit with the trustees, and manage the temporalities ; 
for encouraging the introduction of Watts's Psalms, and for in- 



ALEXANDER CTMMLXG. 615 

sisting on family prayer as a necessary prerequisite in every one 
to whose child he administered baptism. 

lit- requested to be dismissed, October 25, 1753, because his low 
state of health would not allow him to go on with his work in the 
divided, confused state of the congregation. No opposition was 
made, and he was dismi 

(.'umming joined with his parishioners, Livingston, Smith, and 
. in publishing the " Watch-Tower," the "Reflector," the 
"Independent Whig," — spirited, patriotic appeals against the 
steady encroachments of the royal prerogative on our constitu- 
tional liberties. 

In feeble health, and with little prospect of usefulness, he re- 
mained without charge till February 25, 1761, when he was in- 
stalled pastor of the Old South Church in Boston. He preached 
on that occasion, and Pemberton gave the charge, and welcomed 
him. " 1 do it with the greater pleasure, being persuaded, from a 
b.ng and intimate acquaintance, that you are animated by the 
spirit of Christ in taking this office upon you, and that you desire 
no greater honour or happiness than to be an humble instrument 
to promote the kingdom of our adorable Redeemer." 

William Allen,* of Philadelphia, Chief-Justice of Pennsylvania, 
to Dr. Mayhew, of Boston, in 17»>o, and thanked him for 

the gift of two Eft rmons, "which, you hint, were preached on ae- 
of Mr. Cumming's reveries; for I can call nothing that 

c >me£ from him by a better name, DOT ought I, if he continues to 

be tli'- same man be was with us. He offered himself to the con- 
ion heii-. of -which I am a member: though the greater part 

are moderate Calvinisms, they could not relish his doctrines." 

After charging Humming with teaching that works are dangerous 
to the soul, faith being every thing, he adds, " He may be a pious, 

well-disposed man, but 1 believe he is a gloomy, dark enthusust, 

and a great pervorter of the religion of Jesus Christ as taught in 

| |] e|." 

To Allen and Mayhew, dimming seemed "an extravagant 
(anatlC." It W8S a wonder bow he could have been admitted a- 

minister in Boston. Vet he was condemned as a Legalist by the 
favourers of the other extreme. 

Andrew CrOSWell, a zealous follower of I );ivenport, had settled 
in Boston. He published a Bermon, with tin- title, "What is 

1 ■ to me if be i- not mine':" presenting the view — perhaps 
distorted — of Marshall, in his "Gospel Mystery of Sanotiiica- 
tion," and lleney, in his "Theron and &spasio. ' Cumming re- 
plied, taking the ground of Bellamy. It was perhaps bis earnest- 

i ii this point that arrayed his Scottbb bearers against him in 



ill's Life of ' 



616 HUGH HENRY — JOHN KINKEAD. 

New York. They had the Erskines in great reverence : they 
loved the doctrines which rallied Scotland's best men against the 
Assembly's decision in the Marrow controversy. Smith speaks, 
in his history, contemptuously of the opposition, as of the lower 
class ; and Robert Philip brands it as a cabal of ignorance and 
bigotry.* The fact that these persons called the Rev. John 
Mason from Scotland, and that they and their children constituted 
the congregation of Dr. John M. Mason, is a sufficient refutation 
of these charges. 

dimming died August 23, 1763. " He was full of prayer, 
with a lively, active soul in a feeble body." This was the testi- 
mony of the excellent Dr. Sewall, with whom he was joined as 
colleague in Boston. 



HUGH HENRY 



Graduated at Nassau Hall in 1748. He was one of the 
students trained by Samuel Blair. He was ordained, by the 
New-Side Presbytery of Newcastle, pastor of Rehoboth, Wico- 
mico, and Monokin, in 1751. At that time the harvest, following 
the labours of Robinson and Davies in Somerset county, " seemed 
nearly over, though considerable gleanings were still gathered" 
after his settlement. Davies spoke of him at that time as likely 
to prove an extensive blessing to that part of the colony of 
Maryland. 

He died in 1763, greatly esteemed. 



JOHN KINKEAD 



Was born in Ireland, and is mentioned, on the records of Phila- 
delphia Synod, as a licentiate, in May, 1752. He was, at that 
time, sent to the Valley of Virginia, to supply from the middle 
of November till the first of March : " in case he receives a call, 
he shall continue eight weeks only." McKennan supplied his 
lack of service, and his reasons for not having gone were sus- 

* Nothing of this sort is intimated in the private correspondence of the leading 
members of the congregation. 



JOHN KINKEAD. 617 

tained. " A member of the congregation of Norrington applied 
to the synod, supplicating the ordination of Mr. Kinkead, as fast 
as our Btated rules and methods will permit. The synod, at con- 
siderable length, heard the reasons offered by the Presbyteries of 
Philadelphia and Newcastle why they could not attend on the 
trials and ordination, so as to answer the request of the con- 
gregations. The congregations of Great Valley and Norrington 
Belonging to Philadelphia Presbytery, they ordered that said pres- 
bytery should attend the trials and manage the ordination; and, 
lest a delay should be occasioned by the paucity and distance of 
the members, Mr. Cathcart is ordered to correspond with said 
presbytery as an assistant." He was ordained, and the synod 
ordered him " to correspond with Newcastle Presbytery in 
August." 

In 1754, he spent three months in Virginia, and was dismissed 
from his charge, and was publicly disowned by the presbytery, in 

I T~>7. Immediately on the union, (May 31, 1758,) Philadelphia 
Presbytery directed Gilbert Tennent to write to him, and inform 
him that he most desist from preaching at Middletown, (now in 
Delaware county, Pennsylvania,) as it was offensive to the con- 
gregation and to the presbytery. He was informed of the time 
of the next meeting. The records of the presbytery furnish no 
further notice of him; but, in 1759, at his request, the synod ap- 
pointed a committee to converse with him. " lie came next day, 
and gave in a paper to the synod, as, he says, for his own cx- 
oneration, in order to his continuing a member. The synod, 
having never excluded him, concluded to consider and deal with 
him as a member. The minute being read to him, he refused 
membership notwithstanding." 

Windham, in New Hampshire, obtained his services, and he 
Was settled there in October, 1760. They had supplicated the 
synod in May; and Dr. Alison ami Mr. Ewing were directed to 

write to them a recommendatory letter in favour of Kirkpatrick, 

who was going with the New Jersey forces the ensuing cam- 
Kinkead was dismissed in April, 1765; and, in IT 1 !'. 1 , it wafl 

II particularly represented to the synod that lie is, by many, given 

out to he a I're-I.ytrriaii minister, though his conduct i> noway 
Cognisable by us for he ha- never hem a member of any of OUI 
<■ the union." 



618 ALEXANDER MILLER. 



ALEXANDER MILLER, 

From the parish of Ardstraw, asked, in 1753, to be permitted to 
preach as a minister of the synod, acknowledging that he had been 
degraded by the General Synod of Ireland, the sub-Synod of Lon- 
donderry, and the Presbytery of Letterkenny ; but offering the 
minutes of the presbytery in proof that he had been treated hardly 
and unjustly. Several of the members had already written to 
their correspondents in those bodies, and they refused to encourage 
him till they received answers; and they warned all under their 
care not to receive him as a minister till he was fully cleared. He 
appeared before the synod, June 2, 1755, and begged that they 
would endeavour to procure a reconciliation between him and the 
Synod of Dungannon or the Presbytery of Letterkenny. McDowell 
was directed to write to Messrs. William Boyd, of Taughboyne, John 
Marshall or John Holmes, of Glendermot, and enclose his peni- 
tential letter of acknowledgment. The next spring, the congrega- 
tions of Cook's Creek and Peeked Mountain, (now Harrisonburg,) 
in Rockingham county, Virginia, supplicated that he might be 
received by the synod as a member, and installed as their pastor. 
They resolved to wait until the ships came in from Ireland in the 
fall, and if they brought a letter from the synod of Ireland accept- 
ing his acknowledgment, or if no letter came, then Black and 
Craig were to install him, provided they find his conduct in that 
part of Christ's vineyard such as becomes a gospel minister. In 
1757, the supplication being renewed, he was unanimously received 
as a member, and Craig was appointed to install him before the 1st 
of August. 

The Presbytery of Hanover cited him to answer certain charges, 
at a meeting to be held, as he said, four hundred miles from his 
home. He attended, but found that Todd had prevented the meet- 
ing, and subsequently, on the day the presbytery was appointed to 
meet in another place, Todd and two other members came to Mil- 
ler's meeting-house on their sole authority, ordained a man, re- 
ceived charges against Miller, judged him, and adjourned to an- 
other place. The presbytery annulled these proceedings; but 
Miller declined their jurisdiction, and they, disregarding his de- 
clinature, found him guilty of unworthy behaviour, and deposed 
him, May 3, 1765. He appealed to the synod after a delay of 
four years, and without giving notice to the presbytery : the pres- 
bytery was ordered to attend the next year, that the synod might 
hear both parties. Dissatisfied with this, he renounced the synod, 
and was disowned ; and all presbyteries and congregations were 
forbidden to employ him. 



JOHN MILLER. 619 



JOHN MILLER* 

Was born in Boston, December 4, 1722, his parents having come 
from Scotland in 1710. He experienced the power of religion 
under the ministry of Dr. Bewail, and studied theology with Mr. 
Webb. He began to labour in Kent county, Delaware, in 1747 or 
'4*, and was ordained at Boston, in April, 1749. He took charge 
of Duck Creek, and gathered the congregation in Dover. One of 
Whitefield'a letters ia dated Dover, May 8, 1747 ; and it is likely that 
through his suggestion the Boston ministers engaged Miller to 
enter on this field. 

He was married, November -'-\ 17">1, to Margaret, daughter of 
Allonby Millingtun. Esq., of Talbot county, Maryland. 

II" joined the Old-Side Presbytery of Newcastle, after May, 
1756, having until then formed no ecclesiastical connection in the 
peninsula. It may naturally be supposed, that the settlement of 
Matthew Wilson decided him to join thai presbytery, in preference 1 
to the New-Side body. En L768, the Presbytery of Lewes was 
formed of the brethren of both Bides; and it seems to have been a 
happily-united and harmonious body. 

II" visited Accomac county, and appeared before Lancaster 
ytery to represent the destitution of the Eastern Shore, and 
the prospect of building up our interest; and they ordained Samuel 
Blair, Jr., and sent him thither. 

He died in July, 1791, and was buried at Dover. His eldest son, 

John, entered the Revolutionary army as a surgeon, and died Feb- 
ruary 28, 1777, aged twenty-live. Mrs. Miller died November 

2_'. 17 s '.'. aged sixty. His son Edward Miller, M.D. was a dis- 
jhed physician in New York. His congregation at D&ck 

Creek i now Smyrna) built a handsome churchy after his death, 

and tried to secure tke pastoral services of his son Dr. Samuel 
Miller. 

It was the unhappinees of the congregation- after his death to 

a heretical teacher, and they dwindled and 

almosl became extinct. The Brick Church!; remained closed 

for a Dumber of year-, until Mr-. Leah Morri- — a daughter of Mr. 

Winder, who had been brought, by means of the labours of Dr. 

:- while a licentiate, to embrace the Confession of our 
church, and who became a pioUS man and a ruling elder at Wic- 

mico — removed in her widowhood to reside with her son l >r. W. W. 



Biographic*] Diotioi 
i m- Letter 1 1 i'i 8 und< U to bland 

j Memoir of Mr-, blorrii : la i>r. Gh 



620 WILLIAM McKENNAN — MATTHEW WILSON. 

Morris, at Dover. At first she secured occasional supplies to 
preach in the court-house, and in May, 1825, the church was again 
opened for public worship. She died February 2, 1826. 



WILLIAM McKENNAN 

"Was probably a native of Drawyers, Delaware. He was 
licensed by Newcastle Presbytery before May, 1752, and was sent 
by the Synod of Philadelphia to supply North and South Moun- 
tain, Timber Grove, North River, and Cook's Creek, and at John 
Hinson's, in Virginia. He spent seven or eight months in the 
South. 

Before May, 1756, he was settled at Wilmington and Red Clay : 
he resigned the former in 1794, and continued in the charge of the 
latter till his death. 

Dr. Martin says, he was venerable for his years and his piety. 

Governor McKinley,* who after the battle of Brandy wine was 
taken prisoner by the British in his own house at Wilmington, left 
property to him by wifi. 



MATTHEW WILSON 



Was born in New London, Chester county, Pennsylvania, Janu- 
ary 15, 1731, and was educated under Alison and McDowell. He 
was licensed, by Newcastle Presbytery, before May, 1754, and was 
employed to teach the languages in the synod's school at Newark, 
McDowell taking the other branches. He was ordained, before 
May, 1755, pastor of Lewes and Cool Spring, Delaware; and he 
was sent, for three months in the following spring, to Virginia. 

In 1768, John Harris, who had served the New-Side congrega- 
tions, left them, and the fractions united, and Wilson added Indian 
River to his charge. Though most steadfastly attached to the Old 
Side, he had a great dislike of the Scottish ecclesiastical system ; 
and he had a favourite plan of church government, which he twice 
presented to the synod. 

* Rev. George Foote: History of Drawyers. 



JOSEPH PARK. 621 

He was engaged as a teacher, a physician, and a pastor, and was 
eminent in all these professions. He was skilled in jurisprudence, 
and highly esteemed for his counsel. He was zealous in the cause 
of American Independence, and inscribed the word "Liberty" on 
his cocked hat, that no one might doubt his sentiments. He died, 
March 30, 1700. His son, James B. Wilson, succeeded him for a 
short season; and he was even more distinguished than his father. 
After he was settled in Philadelphia, the Governor of Delaware 
wrote to him to retain him as counsel for the State in case the 
Penns should sue. He replied that he had examined the papers 
in his father's possession, and was satisfied that the Penn claim 
could not be resisted in law or equity. 



JOSEPH PARK. 



It is not unlikely this was the missionary who was sent, by the 
London Society, to the Indians at Westerly, Rhode Island, in 
IT-'):): his labours were wholly unsuccessful until the coming of 
Davenport. Accompanied by many Christian friends, he marched 
into the town in solemn procession, singing as they walked. He 
preached from John v. 40, — a solemn, awakening sermon, but no- 
thing extraordinary: a cry arose all over the house from a sense 
of .-in and danger. A great change speedily followed throughout 
all the neighbourhood. One hundred and six were added to the 
church in Westerly, besides sixty-four Indians. 

Through his kindness to a poor person, in giving her shelter 
under hil rout' while Buffering with the smallpox, so many injurious 
reports arose that he was obliged to publish a narrative* clearing 
himself of having spread that dreaded disorder. 

lie began to preach at Mattituck and Ac<iuebogue, — "broken 

churches, "sadly shaken and reduced by separations in 17">1; and, 

on appearing before Suffolk Presbytery, May ~ { .>, 1752, they exa- 
mined him on his BOUndneSfl in the Earth and his experience of 

religion, and then received him. A call was presented at that 
tune by James Beeseand Nathaniel Warner, and the presbytery 

met at Mattituck, .June !», for hifl installation. In the two places 

there were only seven men ami fifteen women in the communion* 

Buell preached from 1 Timothy i\. I6j Sylvanus White presided, 

ami charged the pastor ; Drown exhorted the people, ana Throop 
Be was unrated, February 1 1, 17.">'', and u not mentioned 

again. 

* Harvard Library. 



622 SAMUEL HARKER. 



SAMUEL HARKER, 

Or, as the name is sometimes spelt on New Brunswick Records, 
Harcour, was probably of Huguenot descent. Remarkable* for 
size, vigour, and strength, he spent his youth in manual labour. 
He graduated at Nassau Hall in 17 — , and was taken up by New 
Brunswick Presbytery, December 6, 1749, and was licensed No- 
vember 6, 1751. Roxbury and Hardwick asked for him, June 
5, 1752 ; and, being called to Roxbury, on Black River, in Morris 
county, New Jersey, he was ordained there, October 31. 

He challenged! Abel Morgan, the Baptist minister of Middle- 
town, and who had debated on infant baptism with Finley, in 
West Jersey; and they disputed on that point for two days at 
Kingwood, in Hunterdon county. "Some proselytes," says Mor- 
gan Edwards, " being found in the Baptist camp, and some from 
Harker's being missing, some shook their heads and others opened 
their mouths." In 1752 or '53, a man named Heaton, who, with 
three brothers, had moved from Wrentham, Massachusetts, to es- 
tablish iron-works on Black River, near Schooley's Mountain, be- 
came a Baptist because he could not find a text proving infant 
baptism. This led Robert Colver, who lived there, to advertise 
a reward of twenty dollars for a text proving infant baptism. 
Harker carried a text to him and demanded the money: being 
refused, he sued him ; but the justice ordered Harker to pay the 
costs. On the Black River dwelt also a small number of Rogerenes, 
or Quaker Baptists, from Groton, Connecticut. 

The presbytery heard, in October, 1757, that he had imbibed 
and vented certain erroneous doctrines, and were about to proceed 
against him, when they learned that he had left his charge and 
gone as a captain with the army. Laying the matter before the 
synod in May, Gilbert Tennent, Treat, Samuel Finley, and John 
Blair were appointed to deal with him in such manner as shall 
appear to them most suitable for his conviction. By order of 
synod, in 1759, a committee met at Mendham and examined a 
paper containing Harker's principles, and were happy to find that 
his sentiments were correct, though far from being happily and 
cautiously expressed. Thus, by "all men's being in the covenant" 
he meant that the covenant, in the proposals thereof, respects the 
whole human race; and, by the assertion that "the regenerate 
were not probationers for heaven," he intended to teach that they 
have a sure and unfailing title to heaven, being interested in the 

* Dr. Foote : Sketches of North Carolina. 

-j- Morgan Edwards's History of the New Jersey Baptists. 



SAMUEL HARKER. 623 

merits of Christ. They could not, however, convince him that he 
was in error in teaching that by the tenor of the covenant of grace 
God has bound himself to bestow savin;: blessings on the endea- 
vours of unregenerate men, and has predestined men to salvation 
upon a foresight of their compliance with the terms of the cove- 
nant. The synod, on hearing this report, thought it expedient to 
try yet whether further converse may convince him. and agree 
that he meet with Samuel and dames Finley, John Blair, and 
Robert and Sampson Smith, at Nottingham, in November; and, on 
his return, with Gilbert Tcnneiit. Treat, Ewing, and l>r. Alison. 
Bt with these committees without any benefit, 4 * though the 

interview lasted two days and one evening.* 1 Having prepared 
his sentiments for the press, he asked the synod, in 1761, to read 
rformance, and, it they would convince him he was wrong, he 
Would amend What was so; otherwise he would think himself obliged 
to print without delay. This they would not do, but declared their 
disapproval of some of his opinions. The book soon appeared, — 
'•An Appeal* to the Christian World," — and was forwarded, in 

November, 1 7' > 1 , by Bostwick, to Bellamy. ,V A most shockingf 

bad 1 k : it may serve to show the inconsistency of the modern 

fashionable divinity." The Bynod, in 1763, condemned the two 

propositions in which he was declared erroneous on a previous 
lion, and al-o a third: — "that the covenant of grace is in such 
a sense conditional, that all, by the general assistances given under 
the gospel, have a sufficient ability to fulfil the conditions of it, 
and BO, by their own endeavour-, to insure regenerating grace ami 
saving '>!'— in_ r ~." They therefore declared that they could not 
Continue him as a member, and that he is disqualified for preaching 

or exercising his mini-try anywhere. The congregation of 1 » 1 : i ■ • k 

River was thrown into confusion on hearing this, and wrote to Dr. 
rs to call a meeting of the synod without delay. lb' COn- 

Bulted New Brunswick Presbytery; and they judged that it was 
not desirable, for that all the gooa to be expected could be accom- 
plished by Bending a committee thither. Accordingly, in August 
they Bent Hait, McKnight, and Kennedy; and, Boon after, the 
Branch of Black Btver asked for supplies. McWhorter,J of 
k, wrote to Bellamy, January 28, 1.764, "I think 1 don't 

live in a printing pari of the world. 1 see l.ut \ery few new 1 ks. 

There i- ;i gentleman in our province who has lately published a 

piece, and, being one of our Bynod, he was censured for it last 

d, — to wit, Mr. Marker, whether it has been able to travel 
so far ••- t" your parts, I can't till. It pleases some for the 
Arminianism it contains, or because it takes the promi 



•• i- i.. I,.- (band in wj public librwy. 

| N. Il:i/..'U'I : IVll.ii , ♦ li.M. 



624 JOHN WRIGHT. 

God which are yea and amen in Christ Jesus, and endeavours to 
make them yea and amen in a natural man's good endeavours ; and 
because he now and then turns off some of what he looks upon to 
be asperities and unrighteous severities in the holy law of God. 
He is evidently a very inaccurate writer, a man of little reading, 
and has no settled scheme that will, in any tolerable measure, hold 
together. I am afraid some will attempt to answer him who, 
though they may hold more truths, are as far from any well- 
digested scheme of religion as he. I should be extremely glad, if 
he lay in your way, you would drop some reflections which might 
have a tendency to make him know his standing." 

John Blair published an answer to his " Appeal to the Christian 
World," entitled, "The Synod* of New York and Philadelphia 
Defended." 

Harkerf married Rachel Lovel, daughter of a French Protes- 
tant residing at Oyster Bay, Long Island, a most excellent woman. 
One of his daughters married Dr. Caldwell, of Lamington, who, 
dying early, left her with an infant, — the Rev. Dr. Joseph Cald- 
well, President of the University of North Carolina. Another 
married Judge Symmes, of Marietta, Ohio. 



JOHN WRIGHT 



Was born in Scotland, and, while living in Virginia, enjoyed 
the friendship of Davies. He graduated at Nassau Hall in 1752, 
and was admitted to special intimacy by Mr. Burr,;}; being of a 
very good character for understanding, prudence, and piety. On 
leaving college, he travelled in New England, and visited Jonathan 
Edwards. Davenport wrote to Bellamy, § May 29, 1753, " Mr. 
Wright, who was licensed last winter, (by Newcastle Presbytery,) 
is to be ordained in about a fortnight, to go to Virginia and Caro- 
lina." He was the principal supply of Hanover while Davies was 
in England ; and, on his return, he found that he had conducted 
judiciously and to admiration. 

In 1761, he wrote|| to Mr. Peter Munford, (Montford,) of the 
Fishkills, a friend and benefactor of his; and, "after an agreeable 
recollection of a former intimate Christian intercourse, exhilarates 
his drooping soul by the particulars of what King Jesus does 
among the wild Virginians. I settled, about seven years ago, 



* Philadelphia Library. f Dr. Foote. 

X Dwight's Life of Edwards. § Bellamy papers. || Ibid. 



JOHN WRIGHT. 625 

about the middle of James and Roanoke Rivers, in a very scat- 
tered congregation, and among a very ignorant people, destitute 
of any kind of religions knowledge, though mostly of the Church- 
of-England persuasion. Upon my first preaching here, they were 
awakened and awfully alarmed; and, in about nine weeks, many 
got engaged in a most solemn manner for my settlement with 
them, and promised me a decent maintenance: which invitation I 
ted before Newcastle Presbytery; and I may say, to the 
of a good and a gracious God, that we never saw the 
natural spring since but ' the Day-spring from on high hath 
vi.-ited us.' 

u 1 preached here first in March, 1754, and completely settled 
the October following. On the last Sabbath of the succeeding 
July, I received to the Lord's table about one hundred souls — 
mostly from the Church of England — who were never com- 
municants before. Thirteen months after, I received about ninety 
more; and, at every sacrament since, an addition has been 
luad.-, on a moderate calculation, of about thirty; and I always 
have two sacraments in a year. Rut this spring and summer 

led all the seasons I have been acquainted with, in Vir- 
ginia, for conviction and conversion: the work is more universal 
and powerful. 

'• Religion seemed to be sunk exceeding low, while its enemies 
were very lively, hoping there was now no God in Israel, and 
even the children of the kingdom drooping through unbelief. I 

ll] of fears myself, lest we had provoked the iloly One of 
Israel to depart from us forever; but even then the stability of 

wenant, and his unchanging regard to his own glory, propped 

ittering faith, and led me to preach in another channel. 
almOSl a new thing to myself ami my hearers, 
insomnoh that 1 could say it was good for us to be afflicted with 
discouraging fears. People gren more ami more engaged, and 
sinners were awaked in an uncommon manner and degree; and 
irhal supported my hopes wis I could Bee the Sun of righteous- 
ihixung upon the negro quarter in tin- darkest and Btormiest 
I ■!' our spiritual winter. When the revival began, it Bpread 

powerfully among the blacks than the whites, so that tlmy 

Orowded to me in great numbers, solemnly engaged and deeply 

affected, to know what they should do to be Baved, I received to 

eonununion, between the second Sabbath in dune and the firsl in 

• ne hundred souls, among whom were forty-six 

■•our enemies were exceedingly confounded, and the children 
of the kingdom exceedingly humbled, — consequently, more joyful 

nnd highly exalted than e\er. A greal number were then arnbi* 
Lights, who before hated and Boomed the 
M 



626 JOHN WRIGHT. 

name. Some of our bitterest enemies were conquered, and made 
willing to deny themselves and take the cross. 

" About five years ago I baptized some few negroes,* and they 
kept dropping in one after another, till, about two years ago, I had 
fifteen admitted to communion. At this time, I baptized two 
leading fellows of one Colonel Cary, who has now twenty slaves 
in full communion in our church. The work has ever since been 
spreading among that gentleman's slaves, and others round; and 
I believe there are now about three hundred Ethiopians solicitously 
engaged after the great salvation. Could I solemnize the Lord's 
Supper in the centre of my congregation this fall, I might have 
hopefully one hundred black converts at the table. I have now 
above one hundred catechumens under examination for baptism, 
besides fifty or more I baptized since last May. 

" 1. When I came first here, there was not a shadow of a con- 
gregation. Mr. Davies, Robinson, Cumming, James Finley, 
Brown, Davenport, and Henry preached a few sermons in their 
transitu, and, I suppose, there might be four or five pious souls 
in all my bounds when I came ; and yet, amidst the whole of the 
work, there has been scarcely any tincture of enthusiasm. The 
Lord kept the converts low by a constant view of their own 
hearts, so that they were rather tempted to unreasonable diffidence, 
than, like the Separates, inclined to go and preach to others. 

" 2. Those who were first taken among the whites, though none 
of the grandees, were yet accounted responsible, honest people; 
and, when the husband or wife was awakened, the same ordi- 
narily happened to his or her consort, unless in few instances, and 
there the person exercised was uncommonly supported under the 
trial of the other's opposition, and the trial generally was not 
long. 

" 3. Those among the negroes who were first baptized were the 
most honest, upright, leading men among their tribes, which greatly 
contributed to spread religion among their fellow-slaves ; and their 
masters, overseers, and stewards generally fell in with religion 
beyond all expectation, and thereby they were greatly en- 
couraged. 

" 4. The opposition has been, and still is, violently strong, but 



* "I am a member of a society in London, which lays out a large sum of 
money every year in books to be distributed gratis among the poor. When I pub- 
lished the arrival of my nomination of books, I called upon the negroes to accept 
of them all. Few of them became scholars, but they seemed exceedingly attentive 
and affected on receiving the books. The work spread amazingly among them. 
Last year I had nine hundred and forty-eight books, this year eleven hundred and 
fifty-five. This, in the hand of a gracious Providence, with the prayers of a great 
number of very holy souls in and about London, is the cause of this glorious work 
among them." 



JOHN BRIGHT. 627 

does not hinder or retard the work: it enter? into their families, 
and takes hold of their children, husbands, and wi 

•■ 5. T • re are as few apostasies as ever I knew in a work of 
gra< f bo large an extent, among uncultivated Bonfe.** 

Wright was installed in Cumberland by Davies and Henry. "At 

•rament on the last Babbath in July. 1755, two thousand 

■were present : there were one hundred and eighty communicants, 

eighty being new ones. There wen- general awakenings for 

sundry Sabbaths before, and new instances of deep and rational 
conviction. Jn August, of ■ Lord's day, I saw above a hundred 
weeping and trembling under the word." Davies said, in the next 
summer, ** Wright's labours continue to be blest. v There was 
more of the power of God that spring, summer, and autumn, than 
ever. There were remarkable revivings in Davies's congregation, 
among the negroes; in Henry's, among the young: in Wright's 
:al, but eminently among the young. "After the 
sacrament io September, 1 don't know that there were two un- 
affected hearts in my congregation. On the third Sabbath in 
November, there was a special outpouring of the Holy Spirit; 
Christ triumphed among us; convictions were more deep and pun- 
genl than formerly." 

In the middle of May. 1757, Wright preached at "Willis Creek 

from Acta xvii. BO, having had do Buccess before, and thought it 

would be the beginning of better days. I la\ ing been sicklythrough 

pring, he relapsed in June : .Martin and Henry assisted him 

at the sacrament. <m Friday, a congregation assembled, and he 

ventured to talk from •■All things are ready." This was a word 

in Mason to Baint and Binner. M We had a prelibation of what fol- 

llonry preached firom Rev. xxii. 17. I never saw the 

if Christ triumph as thm. One B. \V. had heeii three years 

under temptation. 

Such miserabies as I.' said he, on Friday, 'have no place at 
d'a table.' 
■• ■ \ • rou then willing to give op all your part and portion in 
Christ?' 

•• • .No; not for a thousand world-.' 

l4 On Sabbath, Wright took him aside, and gave him a token, 
which be accepted with great reluctance. In fencing the first table, 
this poor object, and, going to him with the bread, he said, — 
•• • I cannot take : I feel do faith.' 

•• • But don't you want < 'hri-t '.'' 
•• % '^ • : hut 1 am not worthy of him.' 
• • \r<- you not ready V 

•• ■ I am lost withoul him.' 

•• • Are you oot labouring and heavy laden? 
'• k 1 am crushed under the load of Bin. 1 



623 THE CHURCH IN NEW YORK. 

" ' Then Christ calls you by name to come to him.' 

" He took the bread, and stood up. Being a tall man, he was 
seen by all, as, stretching out his hands, with the most affecting 
countenance, he said, ' Lord Jesus, I am lost without thee. I 
come trembling. I would fain be a partaker of thy broken 
body; for I am undone without thee. Lord Jesus, have mercy 
on me!' " 

No spectator can ever forget that solemn transaction between 
Christ and that poor sinner. The whole day was " one of the 
days of the Son of man." Thirty-six new communicants were 
received. 

He was a correspondent of the publisher of the " Glasgow 
Christian History," and, it is said, of John Wesley also. 

And must this glowing account of zealous labours and great 
success end abruptly with the statement, that Wright was sus- 
pended, by Hanover Presbytery, in 1763, and never restored ? 



THE CHURCH IN NEW YORK. 

The synod received, in September, 1753, a letter* from Pem- 
berton, of New York, informing them that, owing to dissensions 
in his charge, his hope of usefulness was gone, and that a 
unanimous call from a congregation in Boston was ready to be 
placed in his hands. He desired that a committee might be sent 
to New York without delay to issue the business. Several mem- 
bers of the congregation made a representation of their divided 
state ; and a committee was appointed, with full powers to do as 
they judge necessary for the healing of divisions and for the best 
interests of religion there. Tennent, of Freehold, with his elder, 
Samuel Ker, Burr, Beatty, Bostwick, Spencer, and Caleb Smith, 
met in the city, October 24. No opposition was made to the dis- 
mission of Gumming ; but, being sensible of the many difficulties 
Pemberton laboured under, they allowed him a month's time to 
make a further trial, and left him at liberty then to remove or 
abide, as he saw best. 

During the month, even the gentlemen who were fearful that 
his departure would endanger the peace of the congregation were 
satisfied that he should go ; and, on the joint recommendation of 
Pemberton and Gumming, the congregation (November 19) sentt 

* MS. Records of the Trustees of the Congregation. 

f The letter was signed by Nathaniel Hazard, James Jauncey, John Smith, 
Joseph. Forman, and Nathaniel McKinley. 



THE CHURCH IN NEW YORK. 629 

Obadiah Wells, to request and entreat the Christian and charitable 
I'ice of the Rev. Joseph Bellamy, of Bethleni, Connecticut, 
in coming and preaching to them a few sermons, and aiding them 
by his counsel and advice. " \Yc know of no more powerful 
motive we can offer to excite you, than by telling you, from very 
good accounts we have from several worthy ministers among us, 
there is an undoubted prospect of your being instrumental in 
healing our breaches and uniting our congregation. 1'emberton 
and Cumming, also Mr. Vanhorn, the rider, and others, wrote to 

him to spend a Sabbath with them, being in great hopes* that, by 
the blessing of heaven, it would be of singular advantage to the 
it of religion, and, perhaps, a means of composing our dif- 
ferences."f 

Bellamy was born in 1719, in New Cheshire, Connecticut, 

graduated at Vale in 1785, and was settled, in 1740, in kk the 

east part of the North Purchase," a new parish set off from 

»ury, with the name of Bethlem. He was then one-and- 

twenty ; and, having observed that, on the failure of their people 

t" Bupport them, ministers commonly went to work, and were then 
blamed for neglecting their duty, he declared that he would accept 

their call only on condition that he might give himself wholly to 
the -acred office. A gracious revival blessed the fust years of his 
labour. At Wallingford, also, he was greatly favoured with suc- 
cess. He approved of Davenport's cause long after others, like 
Edwards and Burr, thought that " Peter should he withstood to 
the face." His own spiritual comforts declined, religion ran low 

among his people, and, amid desertion and anguish, he received 
such impressions of the nature, evil, and mischiefs of false re- 
ligion as changed the whole course of his foldings, and moulded 
anew his whole BVStem of opinion. " The delusions^ which 1 saw 
take place in New-Light times have engaged me, as well as the 

divided state of the Christian world in general, to devote mj| 

whole time for above twenty years to inquire into the nature of 

Christianity. 1 have conversed with all men of genius, into whose 

company 1 have had aCCCSS, in New England; I ha\e read all 

1 could come at: 1 think 1 have found the truth. 1 have 

* Pemberton. 

t Obadiafa Wells "wu <•! ii t.. go to Bethlem, by the Rev, Mr, Poml 

M- David Vanhorn, elder, and Mr. 1'. V. !'. Livingston, a trustee, and sundry 

Other persona in 'li<- < ajegatton, My orders were to desire Mr, Bellnmj to 

.•..I,,,, to Hew York, iui'I presvob ■ few sen is, to trj to heal our unhappy 

i to think of u suitable minister For ns; only not to return i 
him wioi no'. I h i i ■ in'' before thai some of bit oon 

mnofa i: itisfled with lii* ministry, thai 't^ 

eluded be musl remove. This made me with joy engage in the affair, hoping the 

open to favour poor, nnh ippj 
Ii 

' i. 



630 THE CHURCH IN NEW YORK. 

published my sentiments in the most open and undisguised man- 
ner," in the "Nature of True Religion Delineated." 

This book, so celebrated, so widely influential on the doctrinal 
systems and the views of experimental religion of all evangelical 
churches in our land, was sent by Dr. Erskine to the venerable 
Robert Riccaltoun, of Hobkirk, to be " perused with the unre- 
lenting eye of a critic." " The book* is written with so good an 
intention, such zeal and warmth for what he takes to be true re- 
ligion, and the whole executed with the true spirit of an original 
author, that it is a very disagreeable task to point out blemishes in 
so much beauty. 

" There seems to me a great many essential lineaments wanting, 
not a few which do not belong to it, and some which, I think, are 

directly inconsistent with it It is well known what influence 

the course of one's studies, the writings he has been most con- 
versant with, his company, and the circumstances of the world 
about him, must have upon a writer. Our excellent author seems 
to have been not a little unhappy this way, as we see by his pre- 
face I am sorry to say that he appears to me deeply — 

though I dare say insensibly — tainted with the evil disease of 
regarding the nature and fitness of things, and the eternal truths 
thence arising in the imagination, as the only thing worth a philo- 
sopher's notice. By his title, and the whole of his manner, he 
seems formed upon that very fashionable writer, Woolaston, and 
his fellows, the modern philosophical divines. Their fantastical, 
unmeaning terms — the nature of things, moral fitness, the true 
taste or moral sense, moral beauty, with much more such affected 
cant — run through the whole of his book. He carries them so far 
as to prescribe law to the Almighty, and dictate with assurance 

what he may do Had he designed it only as an argument 

against the men he deals with, on their own principles and con- 
* essions, I should have been pleased with it, as you are in that 
view, though even then I could only have considered it as argu- 
mentum ad hominem; but when he gives it as a delineation of the 
true religion, I must compare it with the Scripture plan; from 
which I think it differs very widely, both in the manner of laying 
it, and even the matter itself. 

" Instead of founding religion, or the love of God and our 
neighbour, — as God himself has done in his record, — on the love of 
God in Christ, and the plain facts by which it is evidenced and im- 
printed, he runs out into metaphysical excursions to raise and 
establish a sort of idea of God and his essential, and what he calls 
his moral perfections, (in the very words and phrases of that sort 



Riccaltoun to Erskine. 



THE CHURCH IX NEW YORK. 631 

of men,) abstracted from, and previous to, any discoveries lie has 
: f himself in Christ.*' 

The impression made by his visit to New York was beyond the 
sanguine expectations: the Soots, who had formed themselves 
into a - iciety, were beyond measure charmed with him; 

the most fervently pioafl were drawn to him with the warmest 
attachment. The closing day of the year was observed as a day 
of fasting and prayer with great solemnity; and then a call was 
unanimously made out for Bellamy. M r. Yanhorne signed the call 
with an express declaration of his dissent, and wrote, January 8, 
JL754, to inform Bellamy that "four of the trustees, both of the 
elders, and a number of persons of considerable importance to the 
ate of the church, are entirely opposed to the choice, not 
from any opinion to the prejudice of your piety or abilities, both 
of which they think well of; but because their appears to them 
something very disagreeable in your delivery and method, which is 
peculiar to people your way." 

The presbytery met on the 9th, concurred in the call, and also 
to Bellamy, and to the association of which he was a member, 

Urging the call, and desiring that if the way were not clear for his 
removal at once, to allow his spending several weeks in the city. 
Yanhorne wrote again, on the 9th, that some objected that "you 
don't preach SO free and generOUS a gospel as we have been used 
to and i- agreeable to us: you do not preach so much in a gospel 
strain as would he agreeable. If your sentiments with regard to 
church communios are such as Mr. Bdwards's, it would infallibly 

make the rent in our church much wider, as the bulk of our people 
axe against it, and most — I believe I may say the whole — of our 
1." 
The Hon. "William Smith, one of the oldest members of tho 

ehttrch, high in reputation SS a counsellor, a j ii'l LT<-, a patriot, and 

. wrote, on tho 1 1th, it being "expected of me to inform 
y to inform your judgment in this un- 
til affair, there are aboul half a dozen persons on whom the 
; and support of this congregation do depend, who did 

li" ( concur in tin- vote, — because, L. One or two of them think that 

judg nt in divinity tends too much to Legalism; -. Sou art; 

:ted of having notions too Btrict in the article of visible 
church communion; ■">. four discourses here were not sufficiently 
lical, proportionate, and coherent; b As to the an of de- 
livery in a jusl modulation of voice and gesture ; 5. Yon have 
. (Ugh studied prayer a- a gift, and as a work of the head, 

..<•(•<•■, -ary iii a minister who leads the worship of B 
•i will plea •< fleet as to your consent to the SYUOdi- 

cal determinations in the settlement of our constitution, and the 



632 THE CHURCH IN NEW YORK. 

method of worship prescribed in the Directory, and used in this 
church, neither of which I think can be altered without damage. 

"We choose you for our minister because 'tis thought you are 
furnished with divine knowledge, natural abilities, aptness to teach, 
and a capacity to address the consciences of men, and, with the 
divine aid, are likely to promote real religion among us." 

The Scots Presbyterian Society "thought fit," in a letter on the 
14th, signed by Ranal McDougal and William Nicholson, "to 
give Bellamy notice that we all heartily agree to the call, and fear 
your refusing may prove fatal to the union of this church." 

The council was called and convened at Bethlem, January 24. 
Nathaniel Hazard, Jr., and Captain James Jauncey, appeared as 
commissioners with the call, and presented their reasons in writing, 
at length, and with much earnestness, dwelling on the union of all 
parties on him. Bellamy presented his views in writing : — 

" My people give me salary enough, are very kind to me ; I love 
them, and, if it be the will of God, I should love to live and die 
with them. There are many difficulties in the way of my going to 
New York. They are a difficult people, — don't like my terms of 
communion. Some of their great men are against my coming : I 
may possibly do to be minister out in the woods, but am not fit for 
a city. I may die with the smallpox, and leave a widow and 
fatherless children in a helpless condition ; my people will be in 
danger of ruin : it breaks my heart to think the interest of reli- 
gion must sink among my people, the youth run riot, and the little 
children be left without an instructor. I humbly desire, therefore, 
that nothing may be done without the utmost deliberation, and that, 
whatever advice you may see fit to give me, you would let me and 
my people know what grounds you go upon. Behold, my life, and 
all the comforts of my life, and my usefulness in the world, and the 
temporal and eternal interests of my people, lie at stake ; and you 
must answer it to God if you should give me any wrong advice for 
want of a thorough and most solemn and impartial weighing of the 
affair. May the infinitely-wise God direct you ! 

"I pray you to consider me as one of your most unworthy breth- 
ren, almost overwhelmed with concern, and just ready to sink 
under the weight of the affair, and quite broken-hearted for my 
kind and dear people. 

" The council* voted it was my duty to go if the consent of my 
people could be obtained, and casting all the blame upon them. 
Upon this they were, some of them, so exercised and afflicted as, 
of their own accord, to come to my house and take Mr. Hazard 
alone, before I knew it, and tell him, ' We have done wrong : let 
your people make another application, and you will obtain your 

* Bellamy to Burr. 



THE CHURCH IN NEW YORK. 633 

end.' Mr. Hazard, on his return, telling this to Mr. Graham, 
Btirred him up to write to New York and encourage a second at- 
tempt."' The call was at once renewed. 

His friends in New York, "although* he had discouraged and 
disheartened them more than all his people together, wore per- 
suaded that the Lord would convince him and them that it was his 
indispensable duty to come. Mr. Lawyer Smith says, lie will 
undertake to answer all your people's objections, if they have any 
real regard to the interest of religion. The Rev. President Burr 
is sent for over to us. that every reasonable objection arising out 
of difficulties among OUTSelVeS may he removed. The Moravians, 
I imagine, boast and glory from their numbers increasing from our 
church. The Baptists have been preaching here also last week, 
February 4." 

The venerable Tennent, of Freehold, wrote, February 20, to 
urge hlfl considering the matter anew, "principally because by 
accepting the call you will, under God, save from utter destruction 
a rery large and once flourishing congregation. The call is vastly 
more unanimous than it would have been, without a special inter- 
position of Providence, to any one living, such is their rent state. 
And. I may add.it i.- the earnest desire of our ministers." Robert 

Smith, of Pequea, also addressed him: and two of the elders of 
tiie Second Church, Philadelphia, — David Chambers and Samuel 
Hazard, — applied themselves to secure the influence of Graham, 
of Southbury, in favour of poor New York. 

The presbytery met on the l!7 t li of February, and concurred 
with the congregation in renewing the call: they wrote to Bellamy, 

and also to Graham, and also to the Eastern Association of Fair- 
field county, to join witli the Association of Litchfield county ill 
advising aDOUt his removal •'The eyes of that society are in- 
tently fixed upon him, as the only person that is likely to unite 
them; aiel BCaTOS any appear again-t his coming." 

Edwards, who had attended the council, was urged by Bellamy 

to attend the meeting of the ( lonsociation : he wrote from Stock- 

. February 28, 1754, M 'Tis wholly needless that 1 should 

come again 00 the atl'air of your going to New York, ami altO- 

r improper, as 1 suppose now the affair will properly be re- 
ferred to the Association or Consociation. And, besides, 1 think I 

can do more good by writing than by coining. 1 wish vmi had 

been ■ little more particular in your information, [desire yon 

WOttld write to me again SS - i a- possible. I have a mind to 

write a htter to the moderator of your Association. Hut only I 

want to know miieh more about the matter, that I may know the 

how to write. Please to inform me whether Lawyer Smith 

* N. B 



634 THE CHURCH IN NEW YORK. 

has received my letter, and what he writes to you ; and what has 
been done at New York and at the presbytery, and what, and after 
what manner, application has been made in that affair, and what is 
going to be done further. Probably, I shall have a mind to write 
to some others, besides ministers, about this affair. Therefore I 
desire you to be particular, and full, and speedy in your writing to 
me. Particularly inform me when the Association meets on this 
affair."* 

Mr. Obadiah Wells wrote from New York, February 28, " Things 
here, to appearance, ripen apace for so desirable an event, [as ob- 
taining you for our pastor,] and much beyond what I ever expected. 
William Smith, Esq., is most sincerely engaged in it beyond all 
doubt, and has, by his indefatigable labours, made true proselytes 
of Messrs. William Livingston, Morine Scott, Whitehead Hicks, 
and his own son William, who are all gentlemen of the law, and 
all now very desirous to have Mr. Bellamy. Also Mr. William 
P(eartree) S(mith) is much altered, as I am informed, and Mr. P. V. 
B. Livingston. As to Elder Vanhorne, he seems to be the only 
obstinate person that I know of; Moravianism has, to a deplor- 
able degree, infatuated that poor unhappy gentleman. Our trus- 
tees have voted two hundred pounds per annum, salary, and a sub- 
scription is going about for fifty pounds more for four years: in 
that time our church will be out of debt, and then 'twill no doubt 
be able to do it all without a subscription. 'Tis my opinion that 
such a salary, with the perquisites, will make a handsome living for 
a family like yours. Neither are our people unmindful of doing 
something, by way of remittance, to the good people of Bethlem, in 
regard to their settlement." 

Bellamy noted at the bottom, "But what if the trustees won't 
vote it [,£50] at the end of four years ? they won't be so likely to 
do it then as now. 

"N.B. — Nothing is said of their voting my terms of admission 
into their church." 

The Rev. John Graham, moderator of the Fairfield Association, 
had written to Lawyer Smith, January 24, and, on his reply of 
February 19, he "wrote the best apology for the state of his 
church and congregation which he could, consistent with truth." 
On the loth of March, he wrote again that the state of affairs was 
such that " I cannot but hope the ministers of Litchfield Associa- 
tion will most readily advise his accepting the call. All difficulties 
with regard to a suitable provision for his maintenance are entirely 
removed, the salary fixed on the public revenues of the congre- 

* "If it should really so come to pass that you should remove to New York, my 
■wife desires to buy your negro 'woman, as she supposes she will do better for the 
country than the city. She will probably come along through your place some time 
in April, when she will talk with you about it." 



THE CHURCH IN NEW YORK. 635 

gation, and an addition thereto by private subscription. As to the 
few votes that did not concur at the first, they are almost to a man 
effectually gained. The rest, being two or three, I do not despair 
of. Not one man among us will make any faction or disturbance; 
and there is the greatest prospect of the most unanimous approba- 
tion of Mr. Bellamy as our minister, of any man that 1 know of in 
America." 

Mr. Bmith also drew a long and very able and pathetic appeal 
to the church of Christ in Bethlem: it is dated March 15, and 
med by .John Stephens and William Eagles, deacons, in be- 
half ox the whole Presbyterian Church at New York, and by Cap- 
tain Jeremiah Owen, oldest trustee of the congregation. "This 
congregation, from the smallest beginnings in 1715, through strug- 
gles and difficulties, has at length, though very lately, become the 
U08l important church in this Province, with regard not only to the 
general interest of religion among those of the Presbyterian de- 
nomination, but also as to the political influence it has in the safety 
and protection of all its sister churches. 

" Were we not fully persuaded that Cod has chosen Mr. Bellamy 
for the ministry of this church, we durst not desire your consent' 
to his removal. • 

Bostwick wrote to Bellamy on the same day. Ill health had 
prevented him from attending the presbyteries; yet "my concern 

for the interest of religion in that congregation will not permit DM 
to be inactive. That Providence opens the way for your labour 
there is exceeding evident, from the unanimous and persevering 

importunity <>i' the people: in this the hand of God is evidently 
seen. The case of New York is really necessitous and distressing*, 
and if they fail in this attempt there is the utmost danger of their 
coming to ruin.'' 

Mr. .John Smith, the early friend of Edwards, wrote in the 
same -train: "they will Scarcely unite on any other minister, and 
will dwindle a\say to nothing. It' you can't >.e it VOUT dut V to 

God to come among us we are a gone people, our congregation 

]i undone, Mini religion is ruined, — they arc in general so fixed OB 
your comii 

Among the many letten of invitation sent to Bellamy was "a 
plain one,'' dated Mareh 1 8, from John EtobinBon, the collector of 
the pew-rents: — "1 am daily conversant among the whole con* 
sregation: they are all impatiently expecting your coming. We 
Keep together, though with many silent Sabbaths. As to the 
few objections, they told me their Boruples hinged on the shortness 

Of the tryal Of you. I pray Cod may direct your way to us 

speedily. < Jen. xxiv. 1'.' aid 

Bellamy had well Considered the whole matter, and had drawn 
Dp a little book of " I Ibjectionfl :" — 



C36 THE CHURCH IN NEW YORK. 

" 1. As to my worldly support. It will take three hundred 
pounds per annum to maintain a minister with any considerable 
family ; but I must have at least eight at my removal, which, in a 
few years, may probably increase to twelve or fourteen. But at 
New York they have not been used to give their ministers half so 
much as three hundred pounds ; and, if they are persuaded to it, it 
is to be feared that there will afterwards be murmuring and dis- 
content among the people, which would render my life miserable, 
and destroy my usefulness. Their way of maintaining ministers by 
subscription, I am told by those I may fully credit, is uncertain, 
and not safe for a minister to depend upon ; whereas, there is no 
uncertainty attending our way in these parts. My people give 
me salary enough, and are willing to pay it, whereby I am under 
advantages to attend quietly to the work of the ministry, and run 
no risk. 

" 2. My removal to New York must be attended with great 
charges. I must resign my house and farm for the use of the 
next minister for a number of years, or pay my people eight hun- 
dred pounds, Old Tenor, upon account of the settlement I formerly 
received of them. 

" It will cost at least two hundred pounds, York money, to re- 
move my family, and furnish a house at New York, in order only 
to make as decent an appearance as we do now here. We have 
every thing decent for a country minister already. It is not 
reasonable that I should be at this extraordinary expense out of 
my own estate, since it would be altogether not for my own, but 
for their sakes. And can it be supposed they will cheerfully be 
at so much cost and trouble, when it would be so much cheaper 
and easier to get a young, unsettled man ? 

" 3. The only profession of faith required among them, in 
order to an admittance to special privileges, is in these words: — 
' You do declare your unfeigned assent unto the articles of the 
Christian faith, as they are contained in the Scriptures of the 
Old and New Testaments;' — but the ancient Pelagians, Socinians, 
and all other heretics, would make this profession, and might, 
therefore, be admitted to special ordinances upon this plan, and 
could never consistently be excommunicated, which would be 
directly contrary, I think, to the express words of Scripture, 
(Tit. hi. 10,) and also to the sense of the Church of Scotland. 
Although what we judge to be orthodox, in every minute circum- 
stance, may not be necessary to be professed in order to enjoy 
church privileges, yet I am of opinion that, as to the main and 
more essential principles of the Christian faith, they ought to be 
explicitly professed and assented to; otherwise, I cannot so much 
as guess what a man's principles are by the public profession he 
makes. 



THE CHURCH IN NEW YORK. 637 

i: 4. Aa to the covenant in use at the administration of baptism, 
I perfectly approve of it: only there is one alteratioi I should 
iii-i-t upon, — viz.: instead of , * Yon are desired to give up your- 
self, and this your chill, to God,' thus: 'You do now give up 
yourself, and this your child, to God;' because, otherwise, they 
don't bo much as profess to do the wry thing which gives right to 
baptism, and which the very form itself supposes to be necessary; 
for why Bhould they he so much as desired to give themselves and 
their child to God if their doing so were not at all needful to its 

regularly baptised? 

. My people are. and have been ever since my settlement 
among them, remarkably satisfied with my ministry, ready to 
support me, ready to receive instructions and reproofs; and my 
ministry has been blessed among them, which has increased a 
mutual endearment among us : by all which I am under great ad- 
vantages to do good among them. Nor could they easily, if pos- 
sibly, be brought to be willing to part with me: and, if i Bhould 

them, they would be in very great danger of ruin, for it 

would lie extremely difficult to find a man that would unite 
I 

The substance of these objections lie had communicated to the 
u of New York, in a letter concluding thus: — 

14 Gentlehbh : — 1 am heartily concerned for the welfare of 
your congregation, and am willing to do any thing that is my 
duty to promote your prosperity. But these difficulties, which 
have been mentioned, arc real, and of great weight; and, besides 

all that has been said, 1 and my family must run the venture of 

our lives the first time the smallpox comes into the city. 

" it is the part of :i wise man to sit down and count the cost: 

it becomes a prudent man to foresee the evil. It will doubtless 
become your congregation and church, and the presbytery, to 
■ things thoroughly, and. perhaps, hereby all parties 
concerned will be satisfied that it will not be best bo make any 
furth.-r attempts for my removal." 

To the Consociation he said, that, after his representations of 
the difficulties, " the congregation are still resolute, pleading they 

are undone if fchej fail Of BUOCeSS. Now, what 1 ha\c to offer is 

: — 

••1. I cannot apprehend it to be right to removes minister 
from ;i people, where both are well agreed, unless in oases of 
special necessity; nor (2.) can 1 think s minister is obliged to part 
with all the delights of s peaceable and quiel life, to be put at the 
head of a congregation attended with so many difficulties, unless 
there be a rational prospect of doing so much good to souls, and 
to the interest of the Redeemer's kingdom, as makes il a duty to 
I •• all the o ills for : nor (8.) can 1 be 



638 THE CHURCH IN NEW YORE. 

willing to go myself, and take my family, into the way of the 
smallpox, as in the present case, unless the affair be so circum- 
stanced that the interest of the Redeemer's kingdom makes it my 
duty. 

" I am sensible that the people of New York plead that a great 
congregation lies at stake, and, if they are ruined through my 
backwardness to go, are ready to say I must answer for it; and 
ministers in those parts, by letters, urge and press it upon my 
conscience in the most solemn and affectionate manner, as matter 
of indispensable duty. To all which I reply, if it does appear to 
be my indispensable duty to remove, there is no more to be said. 
* The will of the Lord be done!' I ought to go, all selfish con- 
siderations to the contrary notwithstanding. This is the point to 
be judged ; but, I conceive, it cannot be made out to be my duty to 
remove, unless it can be made to appear: — 1. That some settled 
minister should be removed to supply New York. 2. That no 
other can answer as well, or better, or be removed with as little or 
less difficulty. 3. That there is a prevailing probability that my 
removal would, all things being considered, do more good and pre- 
vent more harm there, than it -will occasion here." 

The church of Bethlem met on the 25th, and voted, that the 
Deacon Hezekiah Hooker, Esq., Jabez Whittlesey, and Samuel 
Strong, with Captain Josiah Averett and Mr. Samuel Slater, be a 
committee to represent the church before the Consociation. On 
the 26th, the New York Pleas were heard ; and the church com- 
mittee asked for a copy, and to have the affair adjourned, that 
they might answer, in writing, in due time. Their answer was, 
the reiteration of Bellamy's four points : — that the burden lay on 
the New York commissioners to prove that it is right to remove a 
settled minister against his own wish and that of his people ; that 
it is necessary some settled minister should be removed to New 
York ; that it is necessary that Mr. Bellamy be that man, and 
that he is likely to do more good there than here. The church 
voted, by a full majority, on the 26th, that Mr. Bellamy should not 
remove to New York. 

Mr. Slater presented his reasons. The Bible says nothing of 
removing ministers. We look upon it that he is the gift of God to 
us, and that it is of the Lord's mercy we have such a teacher, and 
that we should pray he would continue him to us. But if he is 
removed, a door will be flung open for poor mortals to speak evil 
of the ways of God, and of our religion ; and we may lament, 
and say, as Moses did, " Lord, what will become of thy great 
name?" 

The Consociation adjourned, and advised Bellamy to visit New 
York before they met in May. He accordingly came there early 
in April, and remained six Sabbaths. On Monday, April 8, Mr. 



THE CHURCH IN NEW YORK:. 639 

Obai.liah "Wells wrote to him, that a club of deists had heard his 
forenoon sermon the day before ; and that one of them, in a very 
engaged manner, in their meeting in the evening, told them it was 
tin- bet time he sh-mM meet with them, as he was fully convinced 
of their madness and folly, and that he would hereafter seek for 
amendment of life. lie added, that '•another prayerless person 
came yesterday to a conclusion to set up the worship of God in 
his family. These things give me great hopes that God is about 
to do glorious things for poor New York through you." 

But, on leaving, Bellamy informed the elders and deacons, that 
it wa> plain that at least ten families were Opposed to his settle- 
ment, and that he ihoald think it his duty to declare to the 
council, that he did nut think, as things stand, it would be For the 
glory of God and the interest of religion for him to be removed. 
Bfe Besought them to make Q0 further attempt. But a new aspect 

wm placed on the affair by the following paper from the Scots 
Presbyterian Society : — 

'• To 1*4 Kiln and DtOCOtU of the Presbyterian church in the city of New York, and to 
the trustee* of the Congregation, x<: 

'-Gkntlemkn: — 

"There are many considerations which make us Tory desirous 1 

that all matters of uneasiiie-s may be removed, and a BoKd and 
lasting peac lished in the congregation, and that without 

delay. Imbed, it was proposed to omit saying any thing about 
these affairs until all things were ripe foe the settlement of a 

minister, and then to refer all to a presbytery or synod; but, 
nevertheless, if our difficulties can be settled amongst ourselves, it 
will undoubtedly be most for the real satisfaction of the eon* 
gregation, and lay the most solid foundation for a Easting peace, 
as well as tend to encourage a minister to settle among as. We 
would, therefore, in behalf of ourselves end our adherents, humbly 
propose the following scheme of accommodation with relation to 
I i I '-aim-, the Confession of Faith, and the trusteeship, about 

each of which there has been so much uneasiness and ouitro- 

■ : — 

•• l it, A- to the Psalms, notwithstanding we are m much at- 
tached to our old Psalms as ever m were, yet, for peace' sake, we 
will resign the point, and say m more. 

••lMIv. A- to the Westminster Confession and Catechism 

adopted by this church, we request no more than that the minister 

and 1 admit none t0 Sealing ordinances but those who 

are qualified as said Confession and Catechisms teach they ought 
r> be, and that laid Confession and Catechisms be recommended at 
the baptism of children, agreeable bo the practice of the Church 
land. 



640 THE CHURCH IN NEW YORK. 

" 3dly. As to the trusteeship, we consent that it remain as at 
present ; and at the expiration of three years from the first day 
of January, a.d. 1755, — by which time, it is supposed, the present 
debts of the congregation will be paid, — we only request that, from 
that time and forward, two new trustees may be annually chosen 
by the congregation ; and that such men may be chosen as are 
known to be wise, able, and faithful men, hearty friends to the 
religious as well as the temporal welfare of the congregation. 
And on this foot we consent that the trusteeship should continue, 
and be established forever; or if, in time to come, any incon- 
veniences should arise which we do not now foresee, we desire 
nothing further than peaceably to refer all to the presbytery and 
synod. 

" And, to conclude : As we hope all our controversies are at an 
end, we desire to forgive, and be forgiven, as to what is past ; to 
be at peace, and to live at peace, and seek the peace and pros- 
perity of our church, and to do all that in us lies to encourage the 
speedy settlement of a minister among us. The above we sub- 
scribe, with this condition : — that the Rev. Mr. Joseph Bellamy be 
our minister. 

"We are, in behalf of our society, gentlemen, your very 
humble servants, 

"Jonas Wright, Jacob Reijker, Ronald McDougald, Peter 
Clark, Robert Gulleland, Alexander McDougald, Duncan Camp- 
bell, Robert McAlpine, William McKinley, Alexander Wiley, 
William Nicholson, John Durham, Samuel Lowden. 

"We shall be satisfied if the following form be used in Bap- 
tism : — 

"Baptism is a seal of the Covenant of Grace, and is to be ad- 
ministered to such as profess their faith in Christ, and their obedi- 
ence to him, and to their children. You are now come to present 
yourselves before the Lord, to dedicate your child to God in bap- 
tism, according to divine appointment. 

" You believe the articles of the Christian faith as they are con- 
tained in the Scriptures of the Old and New Testament, a sum- 
mary whereof we have in the excellent Confession and Catechisms 
which are adopted by this church, and you do now give up your- 
self and this child to the Lord, to be justified by the righteousness 
of Christ, and to be sanctified by the Holy Spirit ; and you pro- 
mise that if this child live to years of discretion, you will bring it 
up in the knowledge of the true religion you have now professed, 
and in the nurture and admonition of the Lord, and like pious 
David you will bless your household, will pray with and for your 
family, and, with good Joshua, you resolve that, as for you and your 
house, you will serve the Lord. 



THE CHURCH IN NEW" YORK. C41 

"These things, by the grace of God, you promise to perform. 
The vows of the Lord are upon jou : the Lord make you and us 
mindful of our sacred engagements.'' 

To all this the elders and trustees agreed on the 27th of April, 
with this further: — "that if the debts of the church and congrega- 
tion are not paid at the time any two trustees shall go out of office, 
the two succeeding trustees shall indemnify and save them harm- 
less from all personal engagements that they are under for or on 
account of the debts of the church and congregation." 

Bellamy again addre.-sed to the church and congregation a dis- 
suasive from further attempts : — "Perhaps there is scarcely B minis- 
ter in New England under more happy circumstances than I am in 
my present situation ; and perhaps there would seareely a minister 
in North America be under more difficult cireumstances than I 
would be at the head of your congregation. Nothing* therefore, can 
make me think it my duty to remove, unless it be the most urgent 
- ;y; and nothing can convince mfi el Buoha necessity but 
actually making the moat thorough trial elsewhere." 

Bj the advice of Burr, they persisted; he wrote to Bellamy, 
May 1 1. -'Tis my advice that the matter be prosecuted. The fer- 
ment ; jgation are now in, makes it appear more necessary 
that their case should be represented in the best manner, and I am 
i tied Messrs. Tennent and Spencer will do it thoroughly. 
The matter lies before the Consociation: their voice, therefore, I 

h'-].e, will be the voice of God. If you entertain the least jealousy 

of the want of a cordial brotherly affection from me, yon greatly 
wrong me, or that I should not be highly pleased with having you 

neighbour. There being a little appearance of this in your 

Banner of writing makes me Bay this much. I shall nut ocntci to 

•u and pray for you, that <iod would make your duty plain 
you. 'Tie best, in my opinion, you should wait the result of 

1 iation. While 1 am persuaded that the messengers 

from ' tery will do their utmost to gain it in favour of 

BT< w York, 1 would satisfy you, if 1 bad •'' few noun with you, that 
you ha-, e no cause of discouragement from the conduct of the pea- 
Mr. Thomas Grant — pn.bably one of the promoters of the |epa- 

■ eting in Anderson's day — sent his hearty concurrence in the 
pecially because "your endeavours in this short time, with 
the blessing of God, visibly appeared to increase this congregation, 
: iily in numbers, but in true, sincere piety. Scripture, a 

a no man lightetO a candle and pulteth it 

:' and, without flattery, your Association ad the 

same in confining you to that obscure place, when yi.nr labour and 

much wanted here. It is true you bave some opposition, 

I iderable number to your friends; jot they 



642 THE CHURCH IN NEW YORK. 

are gentlemen of estates and politeness who have been great bene- 
factors to the church. I think it unreasonable they won't comply 
with the majority, when they concurred with the presbytery that 
the call of a minister should be by vote, which was by such great 
odds in your favour. I am in hopes that when your residence is 
determined among us, they will abate their unreasonable prejudice, 
and am of opinion that in adversity they would be your dearest 
friends. I believe if you had never preached or been known in 
this place, one of our synod might have done; but you have so 
deeply engaged the affections of the congregation, that they will 
not hear of the call of any other." 

The Consociation met, May 24 ; Mr. Hazard and Captain James 
Jauncey being commissioners, and Spencer and Tennent, of Free- 
hold, appearing on behalf of the presbytery. A letter was pre- 
sented from the Rev. James Brown, of Bridgehampton, Long 
Island, pressing their consent to his removal ; and another from 
Samuel Finley, arguing the most exposed post requires the ablest 
man for its defence. He also wrote to the congregation, answer- 
ing the four points concerning the removal of settled ministers. 
These are both full of excellent sense, and of great weight. " That 
pious Enoch," Davenport, wrote also to the Consociation: the frag- 
ment begins thus : — 

"The whole visible church may be justly conceived with weep- 
ing eyes, and in great distress, stretching out her hands to you, 
while New York is entreating ; New York, I say, which appears to 
be in threatening danger of being awfully broken, if not ruined, if 
Mr. Bellamy don't settle there ; and, oh, what a blow would this be 
at the whole church ! 

"Dear ministers of that Christ who purchased the church with 
his most precious blood, sets her as a seal on his heart and on his 
arm, and will at last raise her to eternal glory, can you, oh, can 
you refuse to hear the cries of this same church in agonies on this 
occasion ? And oh, if you do hear, how may you find through grace 
unspeakably more comfort and satisfaction in this exercise of self- 
denial than in all self-gratifications put together, and have the 
blessing of many souls ready to perish coming upon you ! 

" I humbly submit these considerations to your impartial and 
deliberate judgment. May the great and glorious Head and King 
of the church favour you at all times, and especially your present 
convention, with his gracious direction, presence, and blessing ! 
and may you be led to such a conclusion in this important affair as 
shall be most agreeable to the divine word and will, as shall justly 
afford you the most peaceful reflections all your days, and on a 
dying bed, as shall be approved and applauded by the great 
Judge, and as shall be rewarded with a crown of glory that fadeth 
not away ! 



THE CHURCH IN NEW YORK. 643 

"Permit me now to take leave, humbly and earnestly begging an 
interest in the secret prayers of you all for your most unworthy 
but affectionate brother and fellow-servant." 

The Hon. William Smith also wrote, "We have had the pleasure 
to observe that Mr. Bellamy's interest in the affection and esteem 
of this people is, by this second interview, greatly increased, and 
the prospects of his usefulness surprisingly enlarged. Our congre- 
gation has regained its flourishing appearance, and is at present 
generally more numerous than in times of its former prosperity. 
The very opposition itself has changed its nature, and, instead of 
being a bar in Mr. Bellamy's way, is now a very strong motive to 
his acceptance of our call. The springs of that small non-concur- 
rence with the vote of this congregation were for some time hid 
from me by my belief of public professions, but at length are 
dearly discovered (as to some persons) from a favour to a modern 
scheme in divinity, to which Mr. Bellamy's principles are entirely 
opposite; which scheme, if it should prevail among us, would 
utterly ruin this church, to prevent which Mr. Bellamy's gifts in 
establishing truth and confuting error are now more apparently 
needful than ever." 

Bellamy informed Mr. Smith of the decision of the Consociation, 
May -■'>: — ''I represented your case as it was, and declared that, 
were I an unsettled man, 1 would, notwithstanding all the difficul- 
ties in the way, accept your call, and submitted to the council to 
decide whether it was right I should be removed: they judged it 
wa- not. Indeed, Mr. Tennent urged me to declare absolutely that 
it wa- a duty for me to remove; hut I apprehended that the council 
were the proper judges of that point, not I; nor would such a 
declaration have carried a vote in the council, without the consent 
of my people too." 

And now the devout and honourable women, of whom there 
were not a few, made their appeal to Bellamy. Miss Nancy 

Smith wrote, Jttne -. "I mourn under the stroke, and pray that 

God may not lend leanness into your soul. I think you have not 

Obeyed the voice of the Lord. 1 love you, and shall ever pray 

that yon may be a mat blessing to the church of Ohrisl : hut I 
fear for you, that like donah you have disobeyed the word of the 
Lord. A- for myself, il would speak it to the praise of sovereign 
and glorious grace,) I have been supported, and, after the melan- 
oholy tidings, enabled to rejoice in God's government; hut how 
short-lived are my comforts! 1 feel a very distressing sense of the 

Lord's hand: all look- like judgment. I mourn for sinners: the 

fields were white unto harvest, ami all, alas ! is blasted, through Mr. 
Bellamy's r e c o rvodness. Have you not reason to fear your x i 

will resent it, and make you and your people I tod tO e:ich other? 

1 know it's hard for your people; hut let them consider how gfoj 



644 THE CHURCH IN NEW YORK. 

rious it would be, by resigning their minister, to have this Sodom 
become a Zion. Oh that duty to God might constrain them to 
offer up their beloved Isaac ! 

"Your labours have not been in vain among us: there appears a 
general seriousness among the people. I hear many have set up 
family worship, and some are under concern about their souls." 

Mrs. Ann Mercier, " being unwell in body, distressed in mind, 
and troubled on every side," wrote the next day, "Oh that God in 
the midst of judgment would remember mercy and incline the 
hearts of your people to make our case their own, and so to send 
you to us ! and oh that in mercy he may send one to them to feed 
them with the bread of life ! Seeing the call is so loud for your 
coming here, and that we cannot unite on any other, let me entreat 
you to consider our deplorable condition, and to represent it to 
your people, and beg them to let you come." 

Mrs. Elizabeth Breeze, the granddaughter of Anderson, wrote 
also, but her letter has not been found. 

The Scots were not behindhand at this juncture in pleading, 
"still firmly trusting that God would send him to New York :" 
they feared that "the ten families" had an undue weight on his 
judgment. 

Obadiah "Wells presented another view: — that some of the people 
of Bethlem saw that their minister was no longer at home with 
them ; that they plainly perceived his heart was in New York ; that 
they feared his usefulness was at an end among them ; and that for 
not consenting to his removal, heavy judgments were in store for 
them. He therefore besought him to think with all calmness, and 
declare himself freely to his people, "and for this once appear 
boldly on the Lord's side." 

"Mr. William Smith is gone (June 10) to Albany, on the treaty 
with the Indians, and will not be home under three weeks, when our 
people will make another attempt after Mr. Bellamy." 

Mr. Samuel Lowden wrote on the 12th, because "the melan- 
choly state of this church is enough to make the dumb break their 
silence. The congregation still design to prosecute the invitation, 
seeing it is backed with the most solid evidence and encouragement 
that can be expected. They are more unanimous than ever: some 
deistical persons, who have been convinced by your preaching, long 
much for your coming. Y'our labours here have been crowned with 
success, in that several have set up and continue worship in their 
families ; deists brought under conviction, secure sinners awakened, 
and a universal concern, not only in this congregation, but in sun- 
dry of the Dutch, English, and French churches, who have pro- 
mised to come and join with us, should you come here. There's a 
prospect of seeing old men and tall Christians as cravers of your 
ministry here." 



THE CIIURCH IN NEW YORK. 645 

Mr. Smith, " though in the midst of the most important business 
that ever occupied the British colonies, in which seven of them are 
united in the present Congress," wrote, "with great inconvenience 
and haste," to Mr. Graham, "to press his furtherance of the speedy 
removal of Mr. Bellamy. I beseech you to charge the call of Pro- 
vidence home opon the consciences of Mr. Bellamy and the people 
of Bethlem. Were I not fully satisfied of a call of God to Mr. 
Bellamy t>> remove to New EoTk, and that his work lies there, I 
would not, for any consideration, write one syllable more to pro- 
mote his removal: hut, as it is, 1 eannot be silent while I see any 
laining." 

To Mr. Hazard, Mr. John Smith, and Mr. Jauncey, he wrote, 
advising them t<> _ .. m in union, "and do all you 

can to .rain the consent of Mr. Bellamy's people. I am informed 
by some gentlemen here that it is likely Mr. Bellamy's people 
may consent, and that two-thirds are gained already. I intend to 
y interest in writing to Mr. Edwards." 

To Bellamy he wrote, " Your eall to New York is very clear 
to me and many others, whose eyes are single, and who, without 
sidtish attachments, make God's glory their governing end. I 
seen two mini-tors of the Consociation, who tell me Bethlem 
people relent, and now think it is their duty to resign you into the 
hands of God and to the disposal of his providence. Another of 

the mini-tor.- of that Consoeiation -uppo-es that VOU may do very 
much to load them into a sen-e of their duty, and. if I undo- 

him, thinks you had not done enough. 1 refer the case to God, 
and beg that Satan may not he permitted to binder you." 

Mr. John Smith, Mi-. Jauncey, and Mr. Hazard wrote, on the 
that they do not "choose to proceed to do any thing 
Mr. Lawyer Smith returns. He's a gentleman we respect, and 
whose judgment we value. 

•• Mr. President Burr came to town last Saturday, ami preach* 1 
ccellent Bermons to us yesterday. He has been aboul a 

the people, and says it is his opinion that it is best, and there is 
it -till to try and get you. Let your people 
demand what they think proper, [as a C0mpen8a1 ion for the settle- 
ment given Mr. Bellamy ij we are determined to comply with it if 
ife." 

Mi-. Hazard made another vi-it to ! »ct lihin. The CODgTegatiotl 

met on the second Friday in duly, and declined to consent to the 
removal of their pa-tor, and Bellamy immediately communicated 
the result to the cnurcb of New York : — 

••Want of union among yourselves has embarrassed tl 

pt from the very first, and been the principal can e of your 
ent. Had yon been onite I, 1 believe mv people would 
have • 



646 THE CHURCH IN NEW YORK. 

" Things looked very hopeful soon after Mr. Hazard left us; but 
several things happened which gave a fatal turn to the affair. 

" There are about half a dozen men among my people engaged 
to have me go, and a few more that will just barely consent; but 
three-quarters declared, in their society-meeting, that they con- 
scientiously thought it not my duty to go. My people, 'tis pos- 
sible, would have consented, had they not been tampered with, 
and made to think that my representation of the state of New 
York was not according to truth. They heard, soon after the 
council met, that I had been imposed on, which gave their minds a 
new turn : once, above half the people seemed convinced, now but 
one-quarter. 

" I being so blamed by Mr. Graham and Mr. Tennent for not 
declaring, and also by the people at New York, and likewise the 
danger of my people's breaking to pieces if I sat still, forced me 
to call my people together when a messenger and letters came up 
from New York, although I knew that the application was irregu- 
lar. But I never proposed to my people to do any thing but to 
give the case a rehearing, upon a regular application, until I heard 
how things were going your way; and then I put quite another 
question to them, — viz. : whether they were fully convinced it waa 
my duty to remove from them ? which was voted in the negative ; 
and so my society, in a very critical moment, was saved from 
division and confusion. 

" My people met yesterday, and I had a long discourse with 
them ; and I am astonished to consider how honest, cool, candid, 
serious, friendly, conscientious, they appeared to be under trials so 
very great. 'Tis pity so kind a people should lose their minister. 
It touches me to the very heart; and I would now pronounce 
the final sentence, — that I would never accept your call were not 
the case so difficult. Yet, notwithstanding this is the inward tem- 
per of my heart toward my people, yet, from conscience and judg- 
ment, I pleaded your cause with them for some hours to the best 
purpose, and I never saw a people behave so well in so difficult a 
case; like dear children hanging round a kind father, who en- 
deavours gently to pull their hands to him, and inwardly bleeding 
with love towards them all the while. They thought there was not 
the least reason to resign me to you, unless you would be at the 
whole cost of settling them another minister. By this, they say, 
you would give them nothing. You would only leave them as you 
found them, in that respect ; while they give you, out of mere com- 
passion to you and conscientious regard to the interest of religion, 
what they esteem a gift of very great worth." 

To Mrs. Mercier he wrote, " Others wonder at my backwardness 
to come to New York, and even doubt my integrity ; but you know 
better. You have seen the anguish of my heart, and my con- 



THE CHURCH IX NEW YORK. 6-47 

scientious desire to do the thing that is right. I never thought I 
was fit for New York : I never saw my way clear to remove. 
Indeed, rather than your distrest congregation should go to ruin, 
I would still be willing to run the venture, and trust myself in the 
hands of an all-sufficient God, who, when I am weak, can make me 
Strong, and who can take care of me wherever I he. Oh that 
God would scud you a man that is fit for you, and that your con- 
gregation might be humbled under the hand of God in this day 
of trial !" 

lie sent his final refusal, July 18, 17o4. Upon the request 
of some members of the congregation, the synod, in Septem- 
ber, appointed Mr. Samuel Finley and John Blair to supply 
them the next Sabbath. " l'lai-cd " be Go, I. who, in the midst 
of judgmeo us great mercy, in sending his servants 

daily with a meal for us! By order of synod, Messrs. Finley 
and Jil.iir cam.' here to call a committee in the congregation, of 
such men as might be thought fit to act in things relating to a 
call and resettlement of a minister, as our ciders appeared too 

indolent in the matter. But the congregation was opposed by 

atlemen with much vehemence, which much sur- 
prised the ministers. They abused some in the public con- 
ion, and convinced the people more and more that the 
church's real good was little their care or concern. So you see 
where we are .-till. Tiny talk of putting it to vote in the con- 
tion for Mr. Bostwick and Mr. Blair. Mr. Finley's voice is 
ding low, though pretty much liked, and, is thought, would 
not Buit ibis congregation; but, I believe, can't obtain either. We 
have been refused Mr. Davies. We 6nd those that opposed you 
would oppose Mr. ESdwards also. The various accounts among 
ministers and people hindered their making any attempt for Mr. 

I. uds." 

Captain Jaunoey wrote again in the fall, to open the negotia- 
tion anew. Bellamy replied, November 20, "1 have read ami 
considered your letter, ami 1 heartily pity your oase. 'Tis your 
ess to unite in a man; 'ti.- the presbytery's business to get 

him. You could not unite in Mr. 15., and the presbytery could 
not find it ill their heart to plead yOM 0886. We ha\e heard ft 

food character of Mr. Rodgers; ami, If he is what 1 have heard, 
advise you, if possible, to get him: but, whether you can unite 
in him or not, there i.-i do hope of removing Mr. lb, as things uow 
stand." 

Rodgers, however, declined the invitation by the messenger who 
canie. l n. Mr-. Breese wrote (December L8)to Bellamy, desiring 
him to pay the congregation a \i.-it. lie replied, January l. 

* Samuel LowJeu t<> Bellamy, Ootober ". 1764. 



648 THE CHURCH IN NEW YORK. 

" Mr. Wells told me that Mr. Vanhorne said that, although I pre- 
tended to be so backward, yet I was trying to crowd myself in all 
the while. 'Well,' said I, 'I do not intend to set my foot in New 
York till they have a minister settled.' I heartily wish you pros- 
perity in your attempts to get a faithful minister. To hear you 
are well settled will give me the same joy a tender parent feels on 
the recovery of a sick child from the sides of the grave. Once I 
thought God called me to put my life in my hand, and try to save 
you from ruin, and I acted accordingly in the integrity of my 
heart. But God, in his providence, has released me from the 
dangerous work. I do not believe it is, or ever will be, my duty 
to remove and settle at New York. I have never complimented 
with New York, in the pulpit or out of it. I do not want court- 
ing ; and to have a poor distressed people beg and pray, it almost 
breaks my heart." 

It was said by the Rev. Noah Benedict, at the funeral of Bel- 
lamy, that one hinderance to his acceptance of the call to New 
York was his apprehension that it would not be pleasing to some 
of the ministers of our church. " 'Tis true," said Bellamy to 
Burr, " the conduct of the presbytery, when they were at New 
York, had made me suspect how the case stood ; but your letter re- 
moved my uneasiness. And, 'tis true, their conduct at the coun- 
cil in New England awakened my suspicions again ; but then their 
telling me, in private, so solemnly, that it was my duty — urging me 
to declare, blaming me for not declaring — stunned them again." 
Yet these suspicions he vented in very strong terms at Commence- 
ment at New Haven, especially condemning Bostwick's behaviour 
in the matter. Hearing of these censures, Bostwick took means 
to learn Bellamy's reasons, and was thus enabled to clear himself 
entirely. He had said to Bellamy, over and over, that it was his 
duty to go to New York ; and he had also said, after hearing the 
statements of those who opposed him, that his heart smote him for 
having made an unfair representation on the testimony of the 
other side. He also contradicted the report, that there were some 
hundreds brought under great convictions by Bellamy's labours in 
the city. " It has been an affair attended with the most mis- 
takes, jealousies, evil surmises, &c. that ever I knew in the whole 
course of my life. Many false reports have been spread abroad, 
and many corrupt passions excited on either side. I wish the 
great Governor of the world may overrule all for his glory." 

A reconciliation was effected, and a pleasant correspondence 
maintained till Bostwick's decease. 

Dr. Trumbull says, Bellamy " was a large and well-built man, 
of commanding appearance, with a smooth, strong voice, that 
could fill the largest house without any unnatural elevation. He 
possessed a truly great mind, preached generally without notes, 



THE CHURCH IN NEW YORK. 649 

had some great point of doctrine commonly to establish, and 
"would keep close to his point until he had sufficiently illustrated it; 
then, in an ingenious, close, and pungent manner, he would make 
the application. When he felt well, and was animated by a large 
audience, he would preach incomparably: though paying little 
attention to language, he would, from the native vigour of his 
soul, produce the most commanding strokes of eloquence, making 
his audience alive. There is nothing to be found in his writings, 
though sound and valuable, equal to what was to be seen and 
heard in his preaching. His pulpit talents exceeded all his other 
gifts. It is difficult for those who never heard him to form a just 
id. -a of t!,,. force and beauty of his preaching. No man was more 
thoroughly set for the defence of the gospel." 

He wrote to Hazard. January 22, 1755, k 'To serve your con- 
ion in any thing will ever rejoice my heart, and to see you 
well settled would be to me like life from the dead. 

"Last night, just after receiving your letter informing me that 
you had quite given over all thoughts of me, and were turning 
your eyes towards Mr. McGregory, of Nutfield, and desiring my 
opinion, there came into my study a religious, judicious man, who 
has moved near an hundred miles to sit under my ministry. He 
is a pretty good jn<}'j:r for a layman, and has heard Mr. McGre- 
gory about fifty Bermons. From him 1 learn that Mr. McGregOTy 
has had the smallpox, — which, to be hired, I would not have for 
all New York. Is of a good appearance: all religious people looB 
upon him as a good man, and do greatly flock after him whenever 
iroad to preach: he preaches very solemnly. — much 
■lore politely ami genteelly than I do. His preaching commands 
M much attention as mine does. His language is not BO flowery 
a- Mr. Boetwiok's, but manly, nervous, flowing, neat; his delivery 

good, hi- voice strong; his preaching reaches the heart, and is much 
than Mr. Bostwick's. Se ia prudent and guarded in his 
preaching: preaches often on gospel Bubjects. He is a man of 
iment, no trimmer, used I i the wars; very free and sociable 
in conversation, with words at will in the pulpit, an active man, a, 
full friend to the late work of God in the land. 

•• 1 am of opinion that he might strit your religious ] pie and 

the Scotch as well as I Bhould have done. Mr. Vanhorne and the 
gentlemen would like him better, although I don't think they 

Would be quite suited. 'Tfe my advice, you do unitedly make 

your strongest efforts to u r ct him, being much more likely to >uit 

than any man 1 know of in New England. As ROOD a- 1 can, L 

will gel Mi - . Edwards's opinion, and Bend you. 

■■ 1 am as much a friend to your congregation as I whs that 

dreadful Monday when your people cried about me, and broke my 

heart; hut 1 am, and ought to be, governed by oool, sedate r< 



650 ROBERT HENRY. 

I pray you, leave off scolding at the presbytery : it does your con- 
gregation great damage. But what shall we do? Read the 
Proverbs of Solomon through, with a desire to know your duty, 
and you will find a hundred things pat to your case." 

The Rev. David McGregoire was the son of the first pastor at 
Londonderry, New Hampshire, and was ordained pastor of the 
Second Church in that town (now Derry) in 1735, and was, at 
this time, in his forty-fifth year. In January, by the advice of 
the presbytery, the congregation, in an informal manner, (for 
" there* was no vote, nor any thing like a regular call,") sent an 
invitation to him to become their minister. President Burr at- 
tended the meeting of Boston Presbytery, in April, at Pelham, to 
urge that body to consent to his translation. He returned, and 
brought an account of a considerable prospect of obtaining Mr. 
McGregoire; but "I did not observe any remarkable rejoicing 
among many of the people occasioned by it. They are quite still. 
Mr. Spencer, and Mr. William Livingston, [afterwards Governor 
of New Jersey,] are now gone to Boston, to have the matter 
finally determined. Mr. Burr expects he will accept the call 
before he comes to see us. I fear he knows little of our circum- 
stances. Did he only know this one thing, — that the people's af- 
fections are still attached to Mr. Bellamy beyond any man living, 
— it would be very discouraging to him." 

The presbytery met, May 14, at Boston, and declared they had 
no authority to remove a minister out of their bounds. McGre- 
goire saw no encouragement to adventure himself among a people 
so divided among themselves, and with so many cleaving, with 
unabated desire, to Bellamy. 



ROBERT HENRY, 

A native of Scotland, graduated at Nassau Hall in 1751, and 
was soon after licensed by New York Presbytery. In May, 1752, 
Tehicken, in Bucks county, Pennsylvania, asked leave of Abing- 
don Presbytery to employ him, and, in the fall, the synod, having 
heard from Davies the necessitous yet hopeful prospects in Vir- 
ginia, sent him thither. He preached for some time without being 
licensed by the governor, and was unmolested. Newcastle Pres- 
bytery ordained him before 1753, his field of labour being in 
what was then Lunenburg county, and where Robinson had been 

* Hazard to Bellamy. 



ROBERT HENRY. 651 

greatly successful. lie -was installed, by Hanover Presbytery, 
'June 4, 17oo, the pastor of what are now Cub Creek, in Char- 
lotte, and Briery, in Prince Edward. 

After his installation, Todd* and Davies preached five days, 
with " comfortable evidences of the presence of God with us every 
day. Many were awakened. One was the nearest image of the 
trembling jailor I ever saw. Divine power was felt by many 
hearts who had never heard a New Light before." Davies was in 
Lunenburg in June, 1756, and preached eleven or twelve times 
in thirteen days, with encouraging appearances of success. "I 
think Mr. Henry's and Mr. Wright's labours continue to be 
blessed in those parts. At the sacrament, in that wilderness, 
there were two thousand hearers and two hundred communicants: 
a considerable number of thoughtless creatures are solicitously 
inquiring about religion." Davies said, in 1757, " My honest 
friend Mr. Henry has had remarkable success, the last winter, 
among the young people."' 

Creek nras settled from Pennsylvania. Caldwell, who 

drew the attention of the synod to the new settlements in the 

valley in 1738, havin g ended hie days on the Roanoke, Donegal 

ytery Bent supplies to Cub ('reek, on Round Oak, in 1744; 

and the synod sent Black to Buffalo, and Craig to Roanoke, in 

1751. 

The Briery congregation grew out of the conversion of Joseph 
Morton and his wife. Be bad been noted for his skill as a land- 
hunter, f — in finding eligible tracts in the unsettled wilderness. 

The horses ran wild through the WOOds, "against which no teller 
had come up:" "horse-pens" were prepared on the creeks to cap- 
ture them. A most beautiful, gentle mare, taken by Morton in a 
pen, was given to his wife. 

Little Joe Morton and his wife were eminently pious. lie was 
the first elder, and, until tliey bad a settled minister, inure like a 

than an elder. He convened the people on the Sabbath, 
read a sermon, and catechised the children. Few have left behind 
kvour of piety, lie was oever spoken of without vene- 
ration. His widow long Burvived him, — k, a mother in Israel." 

Their children all became pioii.-, and a large number of their 

[children. 

In May, 1".">"), llenr\j refreshed MoAden by the relation of his 

Several were hopefully brought in, ami source s Sabbath 

j i without some appearance of the power of God. Wright 

■ nteeii werfl awakened, in 1~.">7, under an OOCfl 



» ounce. 

+ l>r. Ala mitt. 

• q'i Journal: in Dr. Foote'l Sketches of North Carolina. 



652 JOHN SMITH. 

lecture of his. He had two hundred communicants, besides forty 
coloured members." 

He also gave a portion of his time, every fourth Sabbath, to 
Falling River. Morgan Edwards* says, " There was an ' awful 
delusion' on Falling Creek, in Pittsylvania, soon after the Sepa- 
rate Baptists came there." 

He removed to Steel Creek, North Carolina, in 1766, and died 
May 8, 1767, — a plain man,f of devoted piety. As he rode on 
his solitary way, he dropped the bridle, and, lifting up his heart 
and voice and hands in prayer, suffered the quiet, faithful beast to 
take his own time. Often his horse stopped at Mr. Morton's door, 
with his good master still engaged in worship, as if alone in the 
forest. 

Faithful in his preaching to all, his principal success was among 
the servants. He led them to Jesus, and they became eminent for 
their growth in grace and knowledge of the truth. 

His widow long survived him. 



JOHN SMITH 



Was born in England,! May 5, 1702. 

He is said to have received a degree from a university : perhaps 
he graduated at Yale, in 1727, though not marked in italics in the 
catalogue. 

His father, Thomas Smith, with a few others, forsook the 
ministry of Anderson, and, by the aid of the trustees of Yale Col- 
lege, obtained Jonathan Edwards, then nineteen, to preach for 
them. He referred with delight to his pleasant intercourse with 
Madam Smith and her son John. 

He was admitted the minister of Rye and White Plains, in 
West Chester county, probably May 15, 1729, being ordained by 
the Fairfield Association. The long tract of forty years, like the 
Arabian desert, is relieved by no cooling stream, no living ver- 
dure; — nothing but a solitary date, scattered here and there, 
meets the eye, as it wanders over nearly half a century of the 
good man's toil. 

He came with Edwards, in 1752, and met the Synod of New 
York. Soon after, he joined New York Presbytery, and became a 
member of Dutchess Presbytery in 1763. 



MS. History of Virginia Baptists. f Dr. Alexander. 

Bolton's West Chester County. 



ELEAZER WHITTLESEY. 653 

Through infirmities of age and disorders of body, he asked for 
an assistant in August, 1758. The Rev. Ichabod Lewis, twin- 
brother of the Rev. Dr. Lewis, of Greenwich, was ordained, as his 
colleague, pastor of White Plains and Sing Sing. Rye is not men- 
tioned again in the presbytery-book. 

Smith died, February 26, 1771, — an able and useful minister, 
worn "tit with labour. 



ELEAZER WHITTLESEY 

"Was probably a native of Bethlem, Connecticut. He came to 

Burr, at Newark, with a letter from Bellamy, in the winter of 

1741--: — "Mr. Tennent* and I have encouraged him in his 

DOW under my care, and makes good progress in 

learning. I tru-t the Lord has work for him to do. 

'-.Vi;. — lie was not converted in the way that you think neces- 

and that I have thought so, though now I am now in some 

doubt of it. I have met with others of God's dear people, who 

■"11 of such a particular submission as we have insisted on, 

though the Bttbstance of the thing may be found in all." 

!!•■ afterwards Bpent Borne time at Nottingham; and Finley, on 
■ending him to college in 1747, speaks of him as having made con- 
siderable proficiency. 

He graduated at Nassau Hall in 1749, and was licensed by 

ytery BOOn after. "Writing to Bellamy, May B, 

17-~>". from Mr. Foley's, he Baj - he had been directed to ride abroad 
in March and April, (and supply vacancies,) and, "this week, I go 
to Deer Creek.' He complains of being unable to study, or to 
made preparation for the pulpit, on account of "what yoo call 
melancholy, but what I call by another name;" ami that, in conae* 

. his days passed M in painful idlei 

i al in Baltimore county, in 17 l'i and 
'47, that it seemed bo Daviee like the firs! planting of religion 
there. It was in what ii now Harford county, and extended irom 
Creek to Slate Ridge and Chanoeford. In 1751, Whittlesey 
was a>> 'ir to lettle thete. No notice of him appears, except 
wlnir, in the records of Newcastle Presbytery, a man asked to be 

■ 1 to church privileges, who had been debarred for ill 
of the late Mr. Whittl< 
A log ohuroh was pat np near Muddy Creek, in Peach Bottom 



: to Bellamy. 



654 NEHEMIAH GREENMAN. 

township, in York county, soon after the " Barrens" were settled ; 
for much of York county, like the Valley of Virginia at the same 
period, was destitute of trees, though, since the savages have passed 
away, forests of noble growth adorn the Valley and the Barrens. 
The Indians* suffered fire to run through them every year, and 
destroyed the young saplings above the ground, but the roots con- 
tinued uninjured; and, when the fires were no longer permitted, 
these large roots sent up a strong growth of shoots, which in thirty 
or forty years became very fine timber. In the Log Church 
Whittlesey preached: there gathered the congregation of Slate 
Ridge : his labours extended to all the neighbouring settlements. 

The late Dr. Martin, of Chanceford, said that Whittlesey formed 
the Slate Ridge and Chanceford congregations. 

Finley tells Bellamy, July 3, 1752, that Whittlesey, "whom I 
tenderly loved for his zeal and integrity, left my house on a 
Thursday morning, cheerful, and in pretty good health, and 
preached the next Sabbath at Muddy Run, not designing to con- 
tinue there longer. On Monday he was taken sick with pleurisy, 
in a cold house, and a cold time ; continued in pain until Saturday, 
and then gave up the ghost. The last words he was heard to utter 
were, ' Lord, leave me not.' The Susquehanna River was frozen, 
and no messenger could come to me till all was over. He died, 
December 21." To Bellamy he bequeathed his watch, and re- 
quested Rodgers to take his horse at what price he pleased. 



NEHEMIAH GREENMAN 

Was born at Stratford, Connecticut, and was probably a de- 
scendant of the Rev. Adam Blackman, the first minister of the 
town. 

David Brainerd had a special friendship! for him, and by his 
charitable expenses he was educated. When he undertook the 
Indian mission, thinking he should have no further use for the pro- 
perty left him by his father, he set himself to discover how he 
might spend it most for the glory of God. No way presented 
wherein he could do more good by it than by educating for the 
ministry a young man of good abilities and well disposed. Brain- 
erd met him at Southbury, December 11, 1742 : — " Conversed with 
a dear friend to whom I had thought of giving a liberal education, 

* Huston's Land Titles. f Brainerd's Life : Bellamy MSS. 



NEHEMIAH GREENMAN. 655 

that he might be fitted for the gospel ministry. I acquainted him 
with my thoughts, and left him to consider of the matter till I 
should see him again. Three days after, he conversed again with 
him ; and he appeared much inclined to devote himself to the sacred 
work, if God should succeed his attempts to qualify himself for 
it." He soon commenced his studies, and was supported till the 
end of his (Brainerd's) life, not, however, without much self-denial: 
for among the Indians he found his mistake in supposing he would 
have no need of his patrimony. 

Brainerd had a special friendship for him, and -wrote to him from 
Boston, when he was expecting daily and hourly to enter into the 
eternal world, "I have a secret thought, from 6ome things I have 
observed, that God may perhaps design you for some singular ser- 
viee in the world. Oh, then, labour to be prepared and qualified to 
do much for God." He pursued his preparatory studies with 
Bellamy.* 

11<' graduated at Yale, in 1748, and was licensed by Suffolk 
tery rery Boon after, — on the 3d of October. The first year 
of his ministry he spent at Moriches and Quogue, now AYesthamp- 
ton. Being in feeble health, he left, and laboured at Fire Place. 
11.- was called, April 4, 17- r >U, to the New Society, in South Hano- 
ver, N<v. Jersey. New Brunswick Presbytery, May ~2'2, L751, 
solicited him, and Pomeroy ami Rowland, of Connecticut, to come 
into their bounds, lie was probably ordained by New fork Pres- 
bytery while labouring at South Hanover, New Jersey. He joined 

Abingdon Presbytery in May, 17 ■">•!, and commenced preaching at 
Pilesgrove, and was installed on the ;~>th of December. 

The old name was given up, and the town was called Pittsgrove, 
in honour of the great Earl of Chatham. 

Ghreenman suffered from delays in paying his salary, and the 
u-aial consequence followed: — an alienation of some who Beemed to 
be pillars. In March, 177 s , he fled into the wilderness to escape 
the indignities largely dealt to Presbyterian ministers by the Bri- 
tish troops. He remained with his family six months al Egg Har- 
bour, preaching, and almost resolved to settle there; for his congre- 
gation ministered not at all to his necessities. On his return, they 
complained to the presbytery that the sacrament had nol been 
administered since April, 1777: he told his wrongs, and was dis- 
missed, April 9, 177'.'. 

He died before the next November. 

M ter Amy accompanied him to Pittsgrove, and married the 
!,'• r. Jonathan Dubois, pastor of the Reformed Dutoh Church in 
Southampton, Bucks county. Her son, the Rev. Uriah Dubois, was 
the pastor of Doylestown and Deep Run. 

• i: iv. tr I t M.jCullocb, of Cambu-lunp, July 6, 17'.". 



656 JOHN BKOWN. 

Greenman spent a part of his time at "Aloes Creek:" there was 
a church at Logtown, on Lower Alloway's Creek, in 1750 ; it has 
been extinct for many years. 

He gave one-fourth of his time to Penn's Neck, (probably Qui- 
hawken :) it first appears in 1747, asking supplies of New Bruns- 
wick Presbytery, and it had for a time a pastor ; but it is now for- 
saken. 



JOHN BROWN 

Was born in Ireland, and graduated at Nassau Hall in 1749 ; 
was licensed by Newcastle Presbytery, and sent to the Valley of 
Virginia. In August, 1753, he was called* to Timber Ridge and 
Providence, the commissioners of the congregations being Archi- 
bald Alexander and Andrew Steel. He was ordained at Fagg's 
Manor, on Thursday, October 11, 1753. Davies preached from 
Acts xx. 28, "with a good deal of inaccuracy and confusion, 
though with some tender sense of the subject. I have hardly ever 
thought myself in so solemn a posture as when invoking the God of 
heaven, with my hand on the head of the candidate. May the 
Lord be his support under the burden of that office which he has 
assumed, I doubt not, with very honest and generous intentions !" 
He speaks of him, in 1754, as a youth of piety, prudence, and 
zeal. 

McAden was with him at Timber Ridge, on the first Sabbath in 
July, 1755, — a day of fasting on account of murders by Indians: 
"there was great attention and solemnity." 

It was under a sermon preached by Brown, from Psalm vii. 12, — 
"If the wicked turn not," — that the Rev. Dr. McWhorter, in early 
youth, was impressed and led to the Saviour. 

* The call is preserved, with its long list of signers, and is -worthy of preserva- 
tion: — "We being, for these many years past, in very destitute circumstances for 
want of the ordinances of the gospel statedly among us, many of us under distress- 
ing spiritual languishments, and multitudes perishing in our sins for want of the 
bread of life broken among us; our Sabbaths wasted in melancholy silence at home, 
or sadly broken and profaned by the more thoughtless among us ; our hearts 
and hands discouraged, and our spirits broken, with our mournful condition and 
repeated disappointments of relief in this particular. In these afflicting cireum* 
stances, which human language cannot paint, we have had the happiness, by the 
good providence of God, of enjoying a share of your labours to our abundant satis- 
faction; and, being universally well satisfied with your ministerial abilities in gene- 
ral, and the peculiar agreeableness of your qualifications to us in particular, as a 
gospel minister, we entreat you to have compassion on us, and accept this our 
call and invitation to the pastoral care of our immortal souls." 



ELIPHALET BALL. 657 

Brown married the daughter of John Preston, a native of Ire- 
land, who settled at Tinkling Spring, Virginia, and became the 
ancestor of a long, honourable line of Prestons, Browns, Brecken- 
ridges, McDowells, and Marshalls. 

Be resigned the care of Timber Ridge* in 177G, and removed, 
in IT'-'T. to Kentucky. He died in 1803, aged seventy-five; his 
wife died in l v, .»2, aged seventy-three. His eldest daughter mar- 
ried tlf Rev. Thomas l>. Craighead, of Tennessee. His eldest son, 
John, was three times elected a member of the United States 
Senate, from Kentucky; he married the only sister of the Rev* 
Dr. John M. Mason, ami died in 1837, aged eighty. His third 
eon, James, was the first Secretary of State of the Commonwealth 
of Kentucky, a member of the United States Senate for many 
from Louisiana^ and. fur six year-, minister to the Court of 
I ■. Hi.- fourth son, Samuel, was an eminent physician and a 

Professor in the Transylvania Medical School. 



ELIPHALET BALL 



GRADUATED at Yale in 1748. On the resignation of Sackett, 
in 17"-;, Bedford had leave of Suffolk Presbytery to go to the 
• egational Associations for a candidate: at a pro re n<it<i 
, _r. December 11, lT-e!, they presented Ball as their choice. 
For an exegesis, they gave him "An Christus pro omnibus mor- 
tuui Bit?" They met at Bedford, December 81, and the next day 
examined him, and heard him preach from Romans iii. 28. When 
Saekett came, they resumed the examination for his sake. <>u the 
2d of January, 1764, Mr. Silliman prayed, Joseph Parke preached 
from 1 Timothy iv. 6, Prime presided, Sackett gave the right 
hand, and Daggel exhorted the people. 

In May, 17-.7, they mei a week earlier than Qgual, because of 
oomplaints made against him, and adjourned to meel al Bedford^ 
on-the-Main. Be was charged with using his neighbours' fowls 
which frequented his bam; with imprudent levity and unguarded 
airiness of deportmenl : with Betting aside the elders, and managing 
contrary to the Presbyterian mode; and, while professing oo< to act 



■ it irai Mllad Hi I 

la iimt .li-ti -. being overgrown by tha ]"■:> • 

lr«fl keeping down ili" iboota from the 
menl of the Indiana, the irhita nan ■*« tl 

- 



658 HUGH KNOX. 

on the strict plan, requiring a full profession of godliness in all 
who presented children for baptism. The presbytery judged that 
he was not blameworthy, as was alleged, and gave him some cau- 
tions with respect to his natural turn and the formula suitable for 
baptism. Thus, for a time, were allayed " the jars and matters of 
uneasiness." 

He was joined by the synod, in 1763, to the newly-formed Pres- 
bytery of Dutchess county. He had, for several years, no small 
difficulty with his session : two elders were dismissed from their 
office by him and the other elders ; and the presbytery admitted 
their right, in common with every other body in church or state, 
to purge itself. Mr. John Lawrence appealed to the synod from 
some other decision of presbytery ; and, having declared all the 
grievances he had to allege against his pastor, it was decided that 
they were too trivial, even if true, to warrant any judicial censure, 
and could in no way justify any in forsaking Ball's public minis- 
trations. He was dismissed, December 21, 1768, and when his 
successor resigned, in 1772, he resumed the charge, and remained 
till 1784. Having spent four years at Amity, in Woodbridge, Con- 
necticut, he removed, with a part of the Bedford congregation, in 
1788, to Saratoga county. The settlement was named Ball Town, 
but has long since become widely known as Ballston. He died in 
1797. 



HUGH KNOX 



Came from Ireland in 1751, and the Synod of Philadelphia, 
hearing that he and Mr. John Alison were desirous of being taken 
on trials, directed them to meet Newcastle Presbytery at Elk River. 
Probably they did so ; for Alison was soon licensed, and was exten- 
sively employed as a missionary in the Southern provinces. 

Knox gave up all thought of the ministry, and led a life of 
worldly gayety, teaching for a support. He was recommended, by 
Dr. Francis Alison, to Rodgers, of St. George's, and was em- 
ployed as a teacher near Middletown, Delaware. He attended the 
Forest Church on Sabbath mornings, and kept his tavern-compa- 
nions in a roar, of an evening, by imitations of Rodgers, — imitations 
so complete that Mr. David Witherspoon, the keeper of the house, 
and an elder in the Old-Side Church of Drawyers, imagined that 
it must be Mr. Rodgers himself, until he entered the room. Soon 
after, he shook off these follies, and entered Nassau Hall : at the 
commencement he requested Mr. Rodgers, who with great surprise 



HUGH KXOX. 659 

saw him there, to forgive him, and not publish his delinquencies, 
for his mimicry had been the means of his conversion. 

He graduated in 1 ~.">4. and probably studied divinity with Burr. 
The Reformed Dutch Ohurch in the island of Saba requested 
ytery to Bend them a minister. They proceeded 
to ordain Knox, in 1755, and were so much pleased with bis trial 
Bermon, on the " Dignity and Importance of the Gospel Ministry," 
that they unanimously requested its publication.* 

11 • bad, on receiving from the Rev. Jacob Green, of Hanover, 
New Jersey, a copy of his Bermon on the sinner's faultiness and 
inability, corresponded with him freely on his peculiar opinions on 
points. In 1769, he published "A Letter to Mr. Green, "f 
expressing his high regard for him, and fur the candour and charity 
he displayed towards him. 

'I'll'' Rei . I '!-. I keen, in an article on the New Haven speculations 
- inability to constitute' a world of free agents, in 
which sin Bhould not enter, states that a similar theory had been 
advanced by Mi - . Knox, in this pamphlet. We arc indebted to the 
zeal of Bishop Eobart for rescuing Knox's pamphlet from oblivion, 
by embalming it in the Churchman's Magazine for 1808 and '09. 
to show the wretched sophistry of Hobart; for he has 

appended to it a note in which he praises the ninth article of "our 
church" for saying that "IT (original sin) dcscr\cth <!"d's wrath 
and damnation," and for implying that the persons in whom origi- 
nal sin is do not deserve it: a distinction not unlike that of the 
baron bishop, who fought afl a baron only, and gave some anxiety 
thereby to his friends, who feared that the devil, in clutching the 
baron, might not be able to carry him off without bearing the 
bishop along. 

Knox appears in this letter as a man of acute mind, clear ami 

us in thought and expression, candid, and open to convic- 
ti'Mi. Green bad probably known the difficulties thai he felt "it 
some part- of the aopkinsian Bcheme; and on the publication, in 
1767, of hie Bermon from Romans ix. 19, on the sinner's faultiness 
and spiritual inability, he wrote to Knox, sending him a copy. 
This occasioned Knox's pamphlet, lie thanks him for his Bermon 
and hi- eery kind letter, and then says, " 1 entirely approve of, and 
illy adhere to, that scheme of religion which tends to exall 

•el humble the creature. 1 think God can oever be exalted 

high enough in the thoughts of the creature, nor the Binful 

tare sunk low enough in tat own thoughts. Could 1 imagine that 

ue article in my creed which favoured the opposite false 

abominable doctrine, 1 would tear it off with indignation, and tear 



iry. 



660 HUGH KNOX. 

away that part of my heart which had harboured it." He then 
adds, that "absolute, unconditional reprobation" seems abhorrent 
to every just view of God, and assumes that it was held by Green, 
whereas no man was further than he from supposing that reproba- 
tion follows any one, but as the just punishment of his sin, and is 
not always conditional on the blameworthiness of the sinner. 

Knox was staggered, and very reasonably too, by such expres- 
sions as these : — "God has willed, ordered, and in his way caused, 
the quantum of sin in the world ; and this, too, as a necessary and 
glorious display of his holiness." "If God had ordered less sin in 
the world, it would have proved him to be not a good and holy, but 
an envious, being." He supposed that, "of all possible plans of a 
world, God adopted the one which was best on the whole." He hesi- 
tated at supposing that God might have made a world of free agents 
without the possibility of their falling into sin. He conceived that 
God could not, in consistency with his perfections and the free 
agency of the creature, make a system of free accountable crea- 
tures without the possibility of sin's entering into the system. He 
made a distinction between Adam's liberty in a state of innocence, 
and that of sinners under a dispensation of preventing restraining 
grace. 

His repugnance was strong to the Hopkinsian notion of benevo- 
lence, and of the necessity of sin to the highest display of God's 
glory, and to President Edwards's doctrine of the necessary con- 
nection between moral effects and their causes, or the motives 
which produce them. "Make it," says he, "appear clear on your 
principles [those of Edwards and Hopkins] that God is exculpated 
from the charge of having any causality in producing sin, and I 
am satisfied. Consider me in the humble capacity of a learner. I 
have such a firm persuasion of your piety, and such a respect for 
your judgment and candour, as will keep me from uncharitableness 
in thought or language towards you. There breathes such a spirit 
of kindness and goodness through all your letters as secures both 
my affection and my gratitude. 

"The distinction betAveen natural and moral inability, I have 
ever thought an important and useful one, when well stated and 
explained. My worthy and excellent friend, President Burr, was 
the first who ever gave me an idea of this distinction. He did it 
in three sermons, preached from Joshua xxiv. 19 : — ' Ye cannot 
serve the Lord, for he is an holy God.' He acknowledged they 
were the substance of Edwards's book relative to that subject, and 
expressed a pretty strong desire of having them printed, as some 
of the most useful and important he had ever preached. I would 
define moral inability thus : — A natural and contracted disinclina- 
tion or aversion to the exercises of piety and moral virtue, which 
becomes faulty and criminal by our resisting the motives which 



HUGH KXOX. 661 

Would have overcome it ; and neglecting, by prayer and other 
duties, to apply to God, through the Redeemer, for those influences 
of the Holy Spirit, by which it would have been wholly subdued, 
and <>ur volitions and actions engaged on the side of piety and 
moral rectitude. 

••Tin- system of the ancient Calvinists is well jointed, and hangs 
'it Calvinism, as held by President Edwards's admirers, 
to me as different from it as Arminianism, — a middle thing 
patched up out of both, — and ought to be called 'Edwardism.'" 

•■ 1 greatly question," he say-, "what you say on p. 19: — 'They 
have all the powers that can be conceived in the nature of things 
for a .-inmr to have; for they have light in the understanding; 
see the reasonableness and fitness of things, and the obliga- 
they are under.' I always thought the understanding was 
sadly darkened and blinded by the fall ; that the natural man could 
not know nor discern the things of God, and that it required the 
DOWer of renewing grace tO cure this faculty of its blindness; but 
I find that Mr. Hopkins and you make out this faculty pretty 
sound and Vigorous, as though it had Buffered little, if any thing, 

by the original aposti - 

These extracts Bpeak favourably of the spirit of the man, and 
show that he was a strenuous opponent of Hopkinsianism, Unfor- 
tunately, he resorted to b bad hypothesis in order to get rid of one 
not -o bad, anticipating therein the New Haven divinity, and fol- 
lowing, if we may believe the Edinburgh Review, in the step- of 
Bishop Butler, Dr. Balguy, and Archdeacon Paley, 

What effect the pamphlet produced, who answered it, and whe- 
ther the Now York Presbytery took notice of it, are among the 
things unknown. 

Yah- College gave him the degree of A.M. in 1768, and the 
University of Glasgow made him i Doctor in Divinity. 

In 177-'. his church was destroyed by a hurricane; and. a1 the 
request of New fork Presbytery, the synod, in 1778, appropriated 
of the collections for pious uses, to aid him in re- 
building. The presbytery corresponded with him yearly, through 
Dr. Rodgers, and expressed their regret on hearing, after the Revo- 
lution, ox the declining condition of his Hock. Tney asked him if 
there was nol wme way in which they could aid him. 

In the recordi of Norwalk, Connecticut, is entered the baptism 
of his -on Hugh, '" 1-781, who graduated at Yah- in L800. 

He spent the olosin f his life in St. Croix, and died 

ther<- in < totober, 1790. 

The celebrated Alexander Hamilton,* in early boyh 1. was 

I under the instruction of Dr. Knox, who, delighted with the 

* Lift 



662 HENRY MARTIN — JOHN HOGE. 

unfolding of his mind, took a deep interest in his welfare; and 
Knox's fervent piety gave a strong religious bias to Hamilton's 
feelings. Knox espoused the American cause warmly, and main- 
tained a pleasant and familiar correspondence with his pupil. 

He published two volumes of sermons on interesting subjects at 
Glasgow, in 1772. A copy is in the library of Nassau Hall. 



HENRY MARTIN 



Graduated at Nassau Hall in 1751, and was licensed by New 
York Presbytery. Hopewell and Maidenhead asked for him, in 
May, 1752. He was accused of having behaved ill, in preaching 
as a candidate at Tehicken, and refusing to settle, as they thought 
he had encouraged them to expect ; but New Brunswick Presby- 
tery examined the matter and justified him. He was called to 
Newtown and Salisbury, in Bucks county, in May, 1753, and was 
ordained and installed by Abingdon Presbytery, Apfil 9, 1754. 
He died before May, 1764. 



JOHN HOGE, 

A son of William Hoge*, " an exile, for Christ's sake," from 
Scotland, in the days of the persecution. After some time spent 
in Amboy, he removed to Delaware, and from thence to the Swa- 
tara, in Dauphin county, Pennsylvania. He was among the first 
settlers on Cedar Creek, in Opeckon, Virginia. 

Samuel Gelston went there, as the first missionary of our 
church, in the fall of 1735. " Pekin wrote for him" to Donegal 
Presbytery in the next May, and he was sent. Anderson visited 
the place in 1737. Craig and Thomson were there in 1739, — 
" both parts of Opeckon" having written for Thomson. In April, 
1740, Cavin was at Bullskin and Opeckon : Lyon and Anderson 
went thither. Year after year came its supplications. It also 
asked for Lyon in 1740, and for Hyndman in 1742. With the 

* MS. Life of Dr. Moses Hoge : by Rev. J. B. Hoge. 



johx hoge. 663 

loss of Donegal Records, after 1750, disappears the last faint 
trace of the visits of the Old-Side ministers to Frederick 
county. 

Lying on the road by which the Valley of Virginia was entered, 
Opeckon had the benefit of the New-Side ministers, as they went 
flown to the numerous vacancies. Robinson preached there, and 
BO probably did John Blair and Roan, Gilbert Tennent and Fin- 
ley, William Tennent and Samuel Blair. A supplieation for sup- 
plies, and in particular fur the opportunity of a probationer from 
(\-dar ('reek and Opeckon, was brought to the Synod of New 
York in May, 174 s , after Dean and Byram had preached there 
with Bi 

In 174s,* John II gi graduated at Nassau Hall, but was dis- 
couraged, by the New-Side Presbytery of Newcastle, from enter- 
-; his genius should not be fit for the ministry. 
ering in his purpose, he gave the presbytery more aatlS- 
:i in his trials than was expected, and he was licensed, Octo- 

11.- was ordained in 1755, and settled at Cedar 
l His father gave the ground on which Opeckon Meeting- 

11;- brother James was one of his elders, but 

withdrew, and united with an Associate congregation in Pennsyl- 
vania. James Hoge thought, in the solemn ezeroises of his early 
life, •• I would be willing to travel'}" round the world, if I could be 
sure to meet with Christ, and get him to take me in his arms, ami 
tell me that he Loved me, ami would save me." 

( in the union, Hoge was annexed to Donegal Presbytery. In 
1760, he had charge of T nscarora, Opeckon, and Back Creek. 
He rarely attended ecclesiastical meetings. In April, 17<iL.\ he 
lamented the sad deficiency of his people. Cedar Creek ami 

•it promised forty-five pounds a year, and the arrears 

amounted to twenty-five pounds. He resigned, ami removed into 
i ylvania, and was on,- of tin- first members of Huntingdon 
1' . being without charge. 



f m TruM-i" being used in the North of Ireland m tTnonymoni with going on 



661 NATHANAEL WHITAKER. 



NATHANAEL WHITAKER 

Was born* on Long Island, February 22, 1722, and graduated 
at Nassau Hall in 1752. He was ordained, and settled in the 
bounds of New York Presbytery, in 1752. In 1759, he was called 
to Chelsea,f near Norwich, Connecticut. It was conditional : — 
" provided he be first liberated from his charge in the Jerseys." 
This church was Presbyterian in its organization, and was in its 
infancy, having six communicants, and no house of worship. The 
installation took place in the open air, February 25, 1761 : the 
sermon, by the Rev. Benjamin Lord, of Norwich, was printed, with 
those parts which, out of mercy to the shivering people, had been 
omitted in the delivery. 

Whitaker had fine talents, and was very prepossessing. He 
engaged in traffic, and "pierced himself through with many sor- 
rows." His people accused him of being greedy of gain and neg- 
lectful of their interests : he charged them with violent and un- 
christian conduct. 

The meeting-house was completed in 1766. The Connecticut 
Board of Correspondents for Evangelizing the Indians selected 
him to go to Great Britain with the Rev. Samson Occum, of the 
Mohegan tribe, to solicit funds for a mission school. Philip sup- 
poses the project to have been set on foot by Whitefield. He had 
frequently, in previous years, urged that Occum might be sent 
over. 

Lady Huntingdon;}; warmly advocated the cause ; Romaine, and 
Venn, and Powley, (son-in-law of Mrs. Unwin,) exerted them- 
selves at Leeds, Huddersfield, and Halifax. A considerable sum 
was collected at Newcastle, where, at Whitaker's particular desire, 
John Wesley preached. 

They returned after eighteen months' absence, having had 
great success, and prepared the way for founding Dartmouth Col- 
lege. The University of St. Andrew's conferred on Whitaker, in 
1767, the degree of D.D. 

While in England, he published several sermons on " Recon- 
ciliation to God," in which he endeavours to prove, — 

That the renewed soul is reconciled to God's original essential 
properties and character as absolute Lord and Governor of all ; 
that the ground of reconciliation is the sacrifice of Christ, and the 



* Rev. Joseph B. Felt's History of Salem. 

f Calkins' s History of Norwich. 

j Life and Times of Lady Huntingdon. 



XATHAXAEL WHITAKER. 665 

means of it ; the knowledge of Christ crucified, and the power of 
the Holy Spirit. 

That the sinner is, by regeneration, imbued with a new temper 
and a taste and relish for divine things. 

That Christ's work has not rendered God in himself anymore 
lovely to the unrenewed heart; and. 

That the sinner is not renewed by "objective light." 

The difficulties with his people biased afresh on his return, and 
he accepted a call to the Second Church in Salem. Massachusetts* 

May '■'. 1769. He had written to them a month before, insisting 
on the adoption of the Presbyterian system. He declared that 
he never was so perfectly >iek <>t' the Congregational method, and 
demanded that he should have a full negative on the proceedings 
of the church, and that no church act should be valid without 
him. This Btrange demand was accounted a part of the Presby- 
terian System by the New England divines; and Jonathan Ed- 
Wards tells us that the chorcfi of Northampton conceded to his 
grandfather, the venerable Stoddard, in accordance with his Pres- 
byterian principles, "a negative on all their proceedings, and 
r as 1 heard, disputed it." lie was installed, July 28$ 

But Salem, though by interpretation signifying ** peace," has 
been the Bcene of much theological warfare. In 1773, the people 
declared that they had not acquiesced in Whitaker's proposals. 
He, with fourteen friends, withdrew, and formed a Presbyterian 
congregation, and united with Boston Presbytery, November -7, 
177-). The presbytery dismissed, without censure, those who with- 
drew from him, and, a council being called, declared these persons 
to be the Third Church. His friends erected a house of worship, 
and the property was conveyed to him, as founder ami sole pro- 
prietor, for the ose of the congregation only so long as it con- 
tinued orthodox in faith. It was burned, October 6, 1771; and, 
in the spring, Dr. VYhitaker, ami his elder, Mr. Nathaniel BUsbeej 
met with the Synod of New York ami Philadelphia, a- corre- 
spondents, to a-k aid to rebuild. The Bynod commended them to 

the charity of all. They completed their new church in February, 

Whitaker, on the breaking out of the war, espoused warmly the 
of independence. He engaged in the manufacture of Bait- 
. and five hundred pounds were subscribed to enable him to 

• the head of the turnpike." The town gave him 

18, I77'i, to sink cisterns to procure nitre. In a few 

weeks he furnished the authorities with ninety-two pound-, and 

soon after with two hundred and eighty-two pounds. Ontb •- 

of the Boston massacre, in 1771, he printed a sermon on 
"The Fatal Tragedy in hung and, on the proclamation of 



666 NATHANAEL WHITAKER. 

independence, another, entitled "An Antidote to Toryism." At 
the termination of the struggle, he reprinted the latter, with 
another, — "On the Reward of Toryism." 

The Synod of New England was formed, May 31, 1775, by 
forming the three Presbyteries of Londonderry, Salem, and 
Palmer. It met only once or twice ; and, in 1782, only the Pres- 
bytery of Salem remained, with barely a quorum. Whitaker was 
again in trouble. The church resolved to adopt the Congrega- 
tional form, November 28, 1783, and called a council, which dis- 
missed him, February 10, 1784. He was shut out of the church, 
March 25. Salem Presbytery justified him, and the Rev. Mr. 
Cleveland, of Chebacco, defended the people and the council. 
He published a history of the case, and then a confutation of the 
pamphlets on the other side. 

He removed to Maine, and, after vainly attempting to establish 
a presbytery, he went to Virginia, and died, January 21, 1795, 
in poverty, at Woodbridge, near Hampton, at the age of sixty- 
three. 

His son Jonathan graduated at Harvard, in 1797, and became a 
Congregational minister with Unitarian sentiments. 

The Rev. William Hart, of Saybrook, who was declared by 
Davenport to be unconverted, attacked the sermons on " Recon- 
ciliation" on their appearance in this country. He held them up 
as new, objectionable, and of the invention of Samuel Hopkins. 
Whitaker replied, in 1770, and retorts on Hart that he held, 
that, as all men have a conscience, they have a taste for and an 
admiration of holiness : asserting, on the contrary, that there is a 
natural enmity of the heart to God, — " an inward, partial, in- 
terested affection, contrary to the inward sense of righteousness." 
Hart, also, attacked Hopkins, and occasioned the publication of 
his treatise on holiness. He had represented Whitaker as teach- 
ing that man is turned devil. Hopkins replied,* that, before Hart 
let Whitaker go, he blackened him, and made him look like a 
devil. 

There was another Nathanael Whitaker, who was a native of 
Medford, Massachusetts, and studied at Harvard. In June, 1742, 
it is mentioned, in the public prints, that he had sailed from 
Boston, to enter " into orders." He was settled in Maryland; 
and Archbishop Seckerf was informed, in 1759, on unquestionable 
authority, that he was one of the worst of men. 

* Essay on Holiness. f Rev. Dr. Samuel Johnson: Albany Documents. 



BENJAMIN HAIT — BENJAMIN TALLMADGE. 667 



BENJAMIN HAIT 

"Was probably a native of Norwalk, Connecticut. He graduated 
at Nassau Hall in 17.j4. While a student, he went, in company 
with Davies, from Newark to New York. "A promising young 
Ban," he observes. "I had an agreeable conversation with him 
on original sin, and the influence of the flesh upon the spirit to 
incline it to sin." He was taken on trials by New Brunswick 
Presbytery, as soon as he received his diploma, September 27, 
1754, and was licensed, October 2a, and sent to supply the Forks 
of Delaware. 

On the records of Forks his name is spelled Iloit, as it was 
uniformly pronounced. In the next May, Ainwell and the Forks 
asked for him, and he was called to Fagg'a Manor. Ainwell 
presented a call, NoTember 11, 1755, which he accepted, and 
was ordained, December 4, L755. He continued there till May, 
1765; and. 1 . t - i 1 1 ur dismissed, he was called, in November, to Wall- 
kill. He settled at Connecticut Farms, and died there, June 27, 
177'.'. 

Mr. Bait's BOO was a merchant in Schenectady, and married a 
daughter of the younger President Edwards. 



BENJAMIN TALLMADGE 

Was born at New Haven, Connecticut, January 1, 1725, and 
graduated at Yale in 1717. On the death of Youngs, be was sent 
for, in May, 1752, by the people of Brookhaven. Be waa or- 
dained at large by Suffolk Presbytery, October 23, 1754. Park 
: i; Buell preached, from ha. liii. I; Prime presided, and Bet 
forth the nature of Presbyterian ordination; Daggel gave the 
right hand of fellowship, Brown exhorted the people, and Thomas 
Paine closed with prayer. 

The church in Brookhaven had aoi escaped rending, and was 
in a deplorable, languishing condition; bo be was not installed. 
.\ " Separate" meeting-house iras pu1 up, two miles beyon 
tauket. John Churchman, in the exercise of the ministry among 
I Is, travelled on Long Esland, in 1769, and, applying For the 
dm of Tallmadge'a church, iras refused. Be ireni to "the Sepa- 

g that, "haying c ■ out from as, they bad laid 

bigotry; hut, on making known bis object, they refused him 



DOS ABNER REEVE. 

promptly, — as promptly as any Friend's meeting-house would have 
been refused to a Separate or a Presbyterian." 

Tallmadge married the daughter of the Rev. John Smith, of 
Rye. His son, Colonel Benjamin Tallmadge, of Connecticut, was 
a distinguished officer of the Revolution. 

He was a highly-honoured minister. 

He died, February 5, 1786. 



ABNER REEVE, 

Born in Southold, in 1710, and graduated at Yale in 1731. 
Licensed in 1735, he preached at Smithtown ten or twelve years, 
but was laid aside for intemperance. After Mr. Throop was set- 
tled at Southold, Reeve* was led, by his faithful care and minis- 
tration, to repentance, and was admitted to resume his license by 
Suffolk Presbytery, they being satisfied there was a saving change 
in him. Moriches and Ketchabonock obtained his services, and 
he was ordained and installed, November 6, 1755, in the Western 
Meeting-house. Brown prayed ; Throop, by the request of Reeve, 
preached, from 1 Cor. ix. 27 ; Prime presided, Park made the or- 
daining prayer, Tallmadge gave the right hand of fellowship, 
Buell exhorted the people, and Dagget closed with prayer. 
Being dismissed, in 1763, he settled at Blooming Grove, New 
York, soon after. Adopting the Independent scheme, he with- 
drew from New York Presbytery in 1770, and was the minister at 
Burlington, Vermont, till his death, in 1795. 

His son Tapping graduated at Nassau Hall, in 17 — , and was 

the tutor from to . He married the only daughter 

of President Burr. He resided at Litchfield ; was eminent as a 
lawyer, a judge, and a Christian. His law-school was in great 
repute. 

* MS. Records of Suffolk Presbytery. 



MOSES TUTTLE — JOHN HARRIS. 669 



MOSES TUTTLE 



The son of John Tuttle,* of New Haven, was bom in that 
town, June 25, 1715, and is said to have followed! the- sea before 
graduating at Yah' in 1 74 ~>. In 1747, he was ordained the first 
minister in Granville, Massachusetts, and was dismissed in 1753. 
"He was," Bays Dr. Cooley, of Granville, "an orthqdoz and 
faithful minister: his short ministry hew was blessed with pros- 
perity and peace." Jn 1756, he was a member of the New-Side 

ytery of Newcastle, and was then employed in Kent county, 
Delaware. On the union, he was joined tO Lewes I'rohytery. 

In November, 1 T * - : » , the Corporation for the Relief of Poor and 
Ministers paid him twenty-five pounds, he being in ex- 
treme poverty, and intending to return to the place whence he was 

driven in the late war. Soon after — in 17<>4 — he belonged to New 
Yoik Presbytery, and withdrew in 17''.'.'. The cause which im- 
pelled him, .Mr. Reeve, of Blooming Grove, and Mr. Dorbe, of 

. to tin- Btep, about the same time, is unknown. 

He died at Sonthold. Long Island, it is said, in April, 1771. 
II- * i- a brother-in-law of Jonathan Edwards, having married, 

in 17 16, lii- Bister Martha, daughter of the Rev. Timothy Edwards, 
of Will [sor. Dr. Cooley says, " The good man, after his dismission 
from Granville, preached in various places, and died in peace, in a 

ge." 
11 - daughter Esther, widow of Mr. Amos Cady, of Vernon, 
Connecticut, was living there in October, 1 > •"» 1 . at the age of 
ninety-live, in the possession of her memory and other faculties. 



JOHN BARRIS 



G lDUATSD ar Nassau Hall in 1758, and, soon after, October 
mined by the New-Side Presbytery of Newcastle, with 
a view to his being taken on trials. Daviee speaks of bin as a 
promising candidate. II" acquitted himself to universal 

It would seem that be had resided in Virginia; for 



• . I. . . EUrtford 
nip. 1 

Dg PropI 



+ Having signed th>' letter t" t > » *- arehbUhop, be reoeiTei ■ notioa fron tha 

• ;tcr to the •• i ■ t." 



670 WILLIAM RAMSEY. 

Finley,* writing to Bellamy to " second the present application to 
Mr. Edwards," says, (August 1, 1751,) "Our presbytery was 
providentially sitting when Mr. Harris came along from Virginia ; 
and we sent a letter to Mr. Edwards, to signify our hearty con- 
currence with our brethren in Virginia, in their address to him," 
to settle in the Old Dominion. He was the bearer of the pro- 
posals to Edwards. 

In 1756, he was ordained pastor of Indian River, near Lewes, 
Delaware, and resigned in 1769. In the spring of that year, he 
was sent, by the synod, to Virginia, North Carolina, and " those 
parts of South Carolina that are under our care." In 1771, the 
synod ordered him to supply at Hitchcock's and Cartridge Creek, 
in Anson county, North Carolina, for three months. He joined 
Orange Presbytery in 1774, and was set off, with five others, 
in 1784, to form South Carolina Presbytery. 



WILLIAM RAMSEY, 

The sonf of James Ramsey, a pious man, from Ireland, was 
born in Lancaster county, Pennsylvania. His youngest brother, 
David, born in 1749, was a physician in Charleston, and distin- 
guished as an author as well as for his worth. William Ramsey 
graduated at Nassau Hall in 1754, and, while preparing for the 
ministry, was selected as a suitable person to unite the divided con- 
gregation of Fairfield, in Cohan zy, left vacant by the death of 
Elmer. Dr. Alison! furnished their messenger, Mr. Ogden, with a 
letter to President Stiles, to assist them in seeking a candidate, both 
parties being anxious to come harmoniously together. Ramsey 
went to Connecticut, and was licensed by the Association of the 
eastern district of Fairfield county, in order that he might appear 
before the people free from all that could alienate any from him. 
He was received by Abingdon Presbytery, May 11, 1756, and was 
ordained and installed at Fairfield, December 1, 1756. 

He died November 5, 1771, aged thirty-nine, greatly lamented. 
His brother-in-law, Dr. Jonathan Elmer, pronounced a glowing 
eulogy on his piety, talents, and excellence. It was printed. § 

He lies buried in "the old New Englandtown" graveyard, || with 
this inscription: — "Beneath this stone lie interred the remains of 



* Bellamy papers. f Memoir of Dr. Da-rid Ramsey. 

% Stiles MSS. \ New York Historical Society's Library. 

|| Communicated by Dr. John Barron Porter, of Bridgeton, New Jersey. 



HUGH McADEN. 071 

the Rev. "William Ramsey, M. A., for sixteen years a faithful pastor 
of the Presbyterian Church in this place, whose superior genius 
an>l native eloquence shone so conspicuously in the pulpit as to 
command the attention and gain the esteem of all his hearers. In 
situation of life he discharged his duty faithfully. He lived 
greatly respected, and died universally lamented." 
lie married Miss Sarah Sealy, of Cohanzy. 



HUGH McADEN 



Wafl horn* in Pennsylvania, and graduated at Nassau Hall in 
17.V;. Licensed in 1755, by Newcastle Presbytery, he was Bent at 
once on a mis-inn to the South. Leaving Kirkpatrieks. in Not- 
tingham, Jane 3, he passed to Conecocheague, and, crossing the 
i sc, travelled along the Valley <>t* Virginia. It was a Beason 
of great distress: tin- dreadful tokens of long-prevailing drought 
met bis eye every day; the uneasiness occasioned by the war was 
changed to terror by the news of Braddock's defeat, and he met 

the ] pie flying from Virginia, for security, into North Carolina. 

sited the new settlers in South Carolina, on Broad River, 

l; er, Waxhaw, and Catawba; and, returning, was invited 
to divide his time between Cathy's Creek (Thyatira) and Rooky 
River, North Carolina; but the Btate of the people, ool united 
among themselves, led him to decline. After preaching among the 

Highlanders, he passed three Sabbaths at the Welsh Tract, 

and was called by the people there, and at GrOShen. Be Was "f- 

oained, by Newcastle Presbytery, in 1757, and probably returned 

ut once to the South, En May, 1759, be was dismissed to accept 

the calls, which had then been in his hands some years. Goshen 

the Grove congregation in Duplin county, and the Welsh 

Tract being On Cape hear River, in Hanover county, he joined 
I :';. L8, L759, and in March, 1768, he was 

• II co, D . B er, and County Line. Subsequently he 

■ the congregations of Crier'.-,, Red House, and Pittsylvania. 

In 177". with -ix other ministers, he was Bet off to form Orange 

He died January 20, 1781, two days after the British 

.army passed by. Systematic in study, in visiting, in examining, 

he faithfully fulfilled bis ministry, and Left behina an honourable 

memory. 

tohea <jf North CtrftN tl *i >» whioh \t printed iii- journal <.f hia 



672 GEORGE DUFFIELD. 



GEORGE DUFFIELD 

Was born in Pennsylvania, in October, 1732, and graduated at 
Nassau Hall at tbe age of twenty, and was a tutor there from 1754 
to 1756. He was ordained by the New-Side Presbytery of New- 
castle, in March, 1756, and was directed by the synod, in the next 
September, to the several vacancies to the southward. In the 
spring of 1757, there was a revival of religion at Fagg's Manor, 
under Mr. Duffield. He was soon after sent by the synod to Hano- 
ver, in Virginia ; and he accepted a call to Carlisle and Big Spring 
early in 1759; reluctantly, and with uneasiness, he joined Donegal 
Presbytery. He was installed the third Wednesday of September. 
In April, 1763, he was called to the Second Church, Philadelphia ;. 
but Gilbert Tennent, with the trustees, opposed the call being 
handed to him : the presbytery transmitted it to Donegal Presby- 
tery, and they decided not to present it to him, without even con- 
sulting his congregations. An appeal being taken by the Second 
Church, the synod ordered a rehearing, because the presbytery had 
acted without sufficient light. The matter was dropped, but was 
again renewed in January, 1768, a joint call being made for him and 
Strain, of Slate Ridge. This also the presbytery declined to give 
him. In 1765, he was sent to Carolina. 

He gave up Big Spring, and was installed, November 14, 1769, 
at Monaghan, to give it one-third of his time. Roan presided, and 
Cooper, of Middle Spring, preached. The First Church in Phila- 
delphia,* having taken up land on Society Hill, proposed to the 
Second Congregation to join with them in erecting a house of 
worship : they declined. The First Church proceeded to build, and 
obtained a charter of incorporation for the united committees of 
the First and Third Churches. The Pine Street Church presented 
a call to Patrick Alison : he accepted it, but in a short time re- 
turned it. Samuel Eakin, a licentiate of Lewes Presbytery, was 
settled, in opposition to the wishes of Dr. Ewing: on his removal, 
Duffield was called; in 1771, the session objecting, the Second 
Philadelphia Presbytery declined to consent to its being prose- 
cuted. The synod gave them leave by a large majority, but the 
presbytery refused to receive Duffield as a member. The synod, 
in 1773, judged that he had good cause of complaint, and declared 
him to be the minister of the Third Congregation, and ordered that 
he be put upon the list of the aforesaid presbytery. At the re- 
quest of the people, they were set off to the First Philadelphia 

* MSS. of Samuel Hazard, Esq. 



ABRAHAM KETTLETAS. 673 

Presbytery, and the elders were authorized to resign if they could 
acur in the .settlement of the minister according to the wish 
of the congregation. 

He alone patriot, "an early, decided, and uniform 

friend of his country." In early life, he was remarkably ani- 
mated in his public addresses, and very popular; his manner was 
always warm and forcible; his talent of touching the conscience 
and Beizing the heart was peculiar. Abundant in labours, pecu- 
liarly qualified for planting churches, zeal to do good exposed him 
ich called him away. 

Be died February 2, 17'. ,( >. His first wife was a daughter of 
Samuel Blair; the second, of Colonel JoLn Armstrong. 



ABRAHAM KETTLETASf 

WAS burn in the city of New York, December 26, 1732, and 
graduated at Sale in 17.~r_\ He was early impressed with a sense 
of religion. He was probably licensed by New fork Presbytery, 

and was installed at Kli/.abethtown, September 11, 1757. J lis stay 

. having left before September 29, 1760. In the next 
spring lie appealed from the judgment of New York Presbytery, 
and earnestly requested the synod to endeavour to remove the diffi- 
culties between him and his brethren. The presbytery bad borne 
ony in a moderate manner against what they disapproved in 
a brother for whom they had a very high esteem, and did uot in- 
tend to Buspend or exclude him; and, to remove all misunderstand- 
ing, they condescended, at the request of the synod's committee, to 
e him as though no censure had ever passed on him. The 
was not healed, and he withdrew before May, 1765. 
He married the daughter of the Hon. William Smith, of New 

! at Jamaica, having no pastoral charge. Being 

familiar with the three languages then spoken in the province, and 
an eloquent Bpeaker, he often preached for the Dutch and French 
churohes as well a- the Presbyterian. 

I. ing warmly into the Btruggle for independence, his safety 
1 him to hi\e Long bland, and, until the olose of the war, 
journed in New England, lie was elected, in 1777, a mem- 
ber of the convention to form a Constitution for the State of New- 
York, but he did not attend. lie w;i, a political writer of I 

lie died September 

■ re published. 

* Dr. Green, at hi* IuiktuI. 

48 



674 JOHN MARTIN— EBENEZER PRIME. 



JOHN MARTIN 

Studied with Davies, was taken on trials by Hanover Presby- 
tery, March 18, 1756, and was licensed August 25. He was widely 
employed in supplying vacancies, and was called to Albemarle, 
April 27, 1757. 

The New England Society for Propagating the Gospel resolved 
to support a missionary to the Cherokee upper towns, if the Scot- 
tish Society would do the same. Martin was ordained, June 9, 
1757, being the first minister of our church ordained in Virginia. 
Davies preached from 1 Timothy iii. 1. Martin engaged in the 
Indian mission, January 25, 1758: the prospects were at first 
cheering, but, the Cherokees having joined the French on the 
breaking out of war, the enterprise was abandoned. He settled in 
South Carolina, and is mentioned in 1770 as subscribing for seven 
sets of the two additional volumes of Davies's sermons, published 
in London. 



EBENEZER PRIME 



Was born* at Milford, Connecticut, July 21, 1700, and gradu- 
ated at Yale in 1718. He was ordained by a council, as colleague 
to the Rev. Eliphalet Jones, at Huntingdon, Long Island, June 5, 
1723. "A diligent student, extremely exact and systematic, he 
kept a register of the texts, places, and times of preaching, with- 
out a single omission, for more than fifty years." In the Great 
Awakening, his labours were much blessed; "the power of God 
was marvellous." Convictions of long continuance then issued in 
joy and peace. There was a great and general awakeningf at 
lluntingdon in 1748, and it was still prospering in the next j-ear. 
This was immediately after the formation of Suffolk Presbytery: 
so wisely and so prayerfully did they seek to stay the progress of 
disorder, and so graciously did the Lord smile on their attempt to 
build up the broken churches. 

In the summer of 1758, he expressed to the presbytery his 
doubts of the Scripture warrant for licensing probationers for the 
ministry, it being his judgment that investiture with the office 

*■ Dr. Prinie"s History of Long Island. f Buell, in Edwards's Life. 



EBENEZER PRTME. 675 

of tlie gospel ministry was necessary before one could preach ; 

_• office-work, to be performed not without, but in 

[uence of, solemn ordination." His brethren yielded bo far 

ordain in every instance where the candidates professed that 

they could not in conscience reoeite license. Such a cotira 

flicting with all Presbyterian usage and with the order of the synod 

in 1764, he opened his views to the synod in 1771, and they, not 

need of their BOUndneSS, Could not repeal the art. yet, 

: full confidence that he would never consent to ordination in 

scept after making the necessary trials, hit him to 

own course. The year 17'i ; ! was a year of disquiet 

at Huntingdon, and. according to the ancient custom in mu-Ii 

juncture-, the -acrament of the Lord's Supper was not adminis- 

I for twelve months. Happily, in May, 17«>4, "the g] 
| of the J- - d -oleum and thoughtful, not a few 

wounded deeply, and groaning under burdens insupportable; some 
under shuddering honor and fearful apprehensions of Divine wrath. 
glorious work of grace :_ r oe> on here-." and. in September, he 
said, "God has poured out his Spirit in a surprising manner upon 
•pie." 

Th.- disquiet was owiilg to the desire <»f the people to settle a 

colleague, and Borkpatrick, of Amwell, was their choice: they had 

□com the presbytery to prosecute the call, October -■"•. 1763, 

but he could Hot he obtained. PHme refused to have a licentiate 
y the pulpit as a candidate for settlement ; and on the 1th of 

June, 17'il, the presbytery, having heard both sides, decided that 

when the congregation resolved to admit a licentiate to preach to 

them, the pastoral relation should hi', ipso facto, dissolved. Soon 

after. I Imour, a licentiate of the Eastern Association of 

■ Id. who had previously preached in the Presbyterian c< 

in Blandfbrd, Massachusetts, was invited in an irregular 

tly to the dissatsfacl i m of many in the town, and 

In December, L765, they asked leave to hear 

.1 licentiate of Dutchess Presbytery: he was soon called, 

till October 30, 1 T < "» * » , and his short stay was 

full of trouble. Many filt that the pastoral relation had been 

. bo that, although two hundred and thirty persons op- 
jigned, and was dismissed April 4, 1773. 

.lied Matthias Burnet, also a licentiate ; but i ; 

ami, in March, 177."», they Bought for Ebenezer Bradford, a) 
ordained; but, after much hesitation, he also refused. In t! 

I was held by the British, and much wanton and malig- 

done to the dwelling, library, and other property 

tnister. He died in the tall •■( I 

MOOtinf "I* tli.- niiviil "I 



676 JOHN MALTBY— HENRY PATILLO. 



JOHN MALTBY 

Was the son* of Captain William Maltby, of New Haven. His 
mother was a sister of James Davenport, and a descendant of the 
Rev. Abraham Pierson, first minister of Newark. Being early left 
a widow, she married the Rev. Eleazer Wheelock, of Lebanon 
Crank, Connecticut, the founder of Dartmouth College. She was 
a woman of great worth, and died while her son was in college. 
He graduated at Yale in 1747, and was a tutor in Nassau Hall 
from 1749 to '52. Probably he studied divinity with Burr. Ap- 
plication being made by the people of Bermuda to Pemberton,f he 
applied to Bellamy and Wheelock to point out a suitable person. 
Maltby was ordained by New York Presbytery, in 1753 or '54, and 
was for a number of years the much-loved pastor of the church on 
that island. The Rev. Mr. Fowle gathered a flock there early in 
the eighteenth century, and was succeeded by Josiah Smith, subse- 
quently minister of Cairhoy and Charleston. Maltby was fol- 
lowed by Dr. James Muir, afterwards of Alexandria, Virginia; 
after whom they had Enoch Mattson. In 1770, Maltby was dis- 
missed to South Carolina Presbytery, and is said to have laboured 
in Charleston ; but, his health failing, he removed to Hanover, New 
Harm 



HENRY PATILLO, 



A native of Scotland,^ was in a counting-house, in Virginia, 
and, probably through the influence of Thomson, was on his way 
to Pennsylvania, with a view to study for the ministry, when he 
met Davies at Roanoke. This was in 1751. He went with him 
to his house, and pursued a course of instruction under his care, 
and was licensed, by Hanover Presbytery, September 29, 1757, 
"agreeably to the practice of the Church of Scotland." He had 
spent some time in teaching, and was married to Miss Anderson. 
He " desired to do good," and was sent to Hico, (Dismal Swamp,) 
Albemarle, Orange, and Cumberland. He was called to the 
churches of Willis Creek, Byrd, and Buck Island, and was or- 



* History of the Davenport family, by A. B. Davenport. 

f Bellamy papers. 

% Dr. Foote's Sketches of North Carolina. 



HENRY PATILLO. 677 

dained July 18, 1758. He was dismissed from Ins charge, Octo- 
ber, 1762, and spent two years in Cumberland, Harris Creek, and 
Deep Creek. He then removed to North Carolina, and was in- 
stalled, October 2, IT65, at Hawfields, Eno, and Little River. 
He was a delegate, in 1775, to the Provincial Congress. In 17 v| >, 
came the minister of Grassy Creek and Nutbush congrega- 
largely made up of converts under the ministry of Davits. 
aim three hundred acres in fee, on condition of his 
staying with them for life. 

He was one of the first members of Orange Presbytery, and 
presided at the organization of the Synod of the Carolinas. 

llf published a small volume,* containing, among other things, 
his letter, "On Predestination," to Francis Asbury, dated Gran- 
ville, Jim.- 14, 17 x 7, and a defence of his conduct in admitting to 
the Lord's table persons holding Arminian sentiments: on one oc- 
casion, .-ix or < • : -_r 1 1 1 Methodist preachers, and a number of their 
people, after due notice, received the sacrament at his hands. 

4 a long life.t he was stripped of his property, 
an 1 reduced to want, on account of the failure of his son in husi- 

for whom he had been an indorser. He and his aged wife 

are Baid to have adorned the doctrine of God their Saviour by 
their submission and patience under this trial. 

He died in Dinwiddle county, Virginia, in 1801, aged seventy- 
fi\--. 

To originality of genius and superior powers he added piety, 
public spirit, and faithfulness in his ministry. Like his teacher 1 
and model, Samuel Davies, he paid much attention to the coloured 
people, and was Successful in doing much good among them. 
" < >f the religious negroes in my congregation, some are intrusted 
with a kind of eldership, bo as to keep a watch over the others: 
any thing wrong seldom happens." After the Revolution, he 
lamented that tie- supply of L r I I ks from abroad ceased, and 

that he had none to give auay to the servants. 

eral instances "t" unworthy men from abroad coming to the 
. ind occasioning trouble, with disgrace to the ministry, led 

him to writ.' to tii'- Bynod "t" the Carolinafl not t" admit any 

foreign ministers to labour in their bounds, Donating it better to 
laymen discharge the -acred function, or even leave the 
churches entirely vacant. He rejoiced greath in the revival under 
John I'.. Smith, in Virginia, and welcomed the young men who, 
under his influence, cut. red the minis! 

Pal llo hid "often thought thai the popular Congregational 
form, joined t" the Presbyterian judicatures as a last resort, 



! Ie\ \ I! I", 



678 WILLIAM RICHARDSON. 

■would form the most perfect model of church government that 
the state of things on earth admits of." The errors which after- 
wards carried away Barton W. Stone and the New Lights in one 
direction, and Thomas B. Creaghead in another, received counte- 
nance, in some measure, from Patillo. He was inclined to assume 
the pre-existence of the human soul of Christ, and the peccability 
of his human nature. 






WILLIAM RICHARDSON 

Was born in Egremont, near White Haven, in England, and, 
coming to America, became a resident in the family of Samuel 
Davies, and studied with him. Davies speaks* of him to his cor- 
respondents in Scotland as though he were known to them: he 
was then under his roof, and would assist him in distributing 
among the negroes the books sent out by the Glasgow Society. 
He was taken on trials, by Hanover Presbytery, June 9, 17-37, 
and "was licensed in the next January, and was ordained, July 13, 
1758, in Cumberland county, as a missionary! to the Cherokee 
towns in North Carolina. Davies preached, on the occasion, on 
the love of souls a necessary qualification for the sacred office. 
Todd gave the charge. The Indians taking up arms, the mission 
was abandoned on the breaking out of the French War. In 
1761, he connected himself with the South Carolina Presbytery; 
and, in 1763, he was the minister in the Waxhaw settlement. 
Having no children, he adopted his nephew, William R. Davie,J a 
distinguished officer of the Revolution, Governor of South Caro- 
lina, and minister to France in 1799. Governor Davie died in 
1820, aged sixty-three. 

* Gillies. f Brown's History of Missions. J National Portrait Gallery. 



BIOGRAPHICAL INDEX. 



1708.... 


297 


1725.... 


BIO 


1712.... 


811 



[On the left hand, are the names of the parties whose memoirs are giren in this work. The column 
to the right, shows the place of their nativity, so far as known to the author. The third column indi- 
cates the year in which they were bom. The fourth column shows the date of their ordination, or 
their recognition as minii-ti-r- in Qm l'r. ibrtsslan i liur.h; aud the next Miami] intimates the year 
Of their decease; while that OS the runt hand polnti cut the page in the wurk where tueii I 
biographies will he feuud.j 

Name. Country. Pate of Birth. Ordination. Peath. PAOfl 

Francis Makemie Ireland 1680. 

Daris Ireland '.' 1705. 

John Wilson 1702. 

' ,...167 I '' - 1746 812 

■1 Taylor Scotland 1690 1710 318 

I !. Ireland 1706 1770 318 

BcoflandT 1706 1720! 822 

BooQand 1706 828 

.' Smith Mateachnsetta 1708 1786 828 

John Benry [Wlan 1 1710 1717 825 

• :i Scotland 1678 1709 1786 826 

; i- M kssachusetta 1708 888 

Joseph Morgan C onectient 1 «'»7 1 1700 

I eck Holland 1710 

'•■ Scotland II B8 1718 1760 889 

J. In. Mackey 841 

Thonuu Bratton 1712 1712 842 

Robert Lawson Scotland 1718 1718 842 

l MoQiH Scotland 171:: 1721 848 

Wale* 1711 1717 845 

Wale* 1711 I72i' 846 

Robert I 171 1 17ls ::i7 

Walw 171 1 1748 847 

i Iner Scotland 1718 r 

nn [reland 1686 l T l _ » 1752 

Orr Ireland? 1716 

gunnel Pumry H ....1687 1718 17 M 

j. .i.ii Thomson fretani 1717 •■■• 

John Plerson N ...1717 177"... 

,...1717 1717 

E G ton [reland 1692 1717 1782 I 

■...." k IT02 

i H [reland 1718 '7ii 

.i i Connecticut? 1717 1749 864 

\ Dl Ir.la.Pl 1678 17 is [748.... ! 



680 BIOGRAPHICAL INDEX. 

Name. Country. Date of Birth. Ordination. Death. page 

Samuel Young Ireland 1718 1721 367 

Robert Cross Ireland 1689 1719 1766 367 

John Clement Great Britain 1719 371 

William Steward Great Britain 1719 1734 371 

Joseph Webb Connecticut 1720 1741 372 

John Orme England 1720 1758 372 

Moses Dickinson Massachusetts 1695 1722 1778 373 

Thomas Evans Wales 1723 1743 374 

Alexander Hutcheson Ireland? 1723 1766 375 

Robert Laing Scotland? 1722 377 

John Walton Connecticut 1721 1768? 377 

William McMillan 1724 379 

Thomas Creaghead Ireland 1724. 

Joseph Houston Ireland 1693 1724. 

Adam Boyd 1692 1724. 

Noyes Parris Massachusetts 1692 1724. 

Nathaniel Hubbell Massachusetts 1727. 

Gilbert Tennent Ireland 1703 1726... 

Archibald McCook Ireland 1727. 

Ebenezer Pemberton Massachusetts 1704 1727. 

Daniel Elmer Connecticut 1690 1728. 

Hugh Stevenson Ireland 1729. 

John Wilson Ireland 1667 1729 , 

Ebenezer Gould New England 1727. 

Eleazer Wales Massachusetts 1657 17c 

Richard Treat Connecticut 1708 1731. 

Robert Cathcart Ireland 1730. 

William Orr Ireland 1730. 

William Bertram Ireland 1674 1732. 

John Cross Scotland 1732. 

Benjamin Campbell Ireland 1733. 

John Nutman New Jersey 1703 1730. 

Samuel Hemphill Ireland 1734. 

Andrew Archbold 1735. 

John Tennent Ireland 1707 1730. 

William Tennent Ireland 1705 173c 

Samuel Blair Ireland 1712 1734. 

James Martin Ireland 17! 

Robert Jamison Ireland 1734. 

Isaac Chalker Connecticut 1734. 

Simon Horton Massachusetts 1711. 

Hugh Carlisle Ireland? 1735. 

Alexander Craighead Pennsylvania?. 1735. 

John Paul Ireland 1736. 

Patrick Glascow 1736. 

Samuel Black Ireland 1735. 

Francis Alison Ireland 1705 1737. 

David Cowell Massachusetts 1704 1736. 

Charles Tennent Ireland 1711 1737. 



1 1739.... 


381 


1 1741.... 


383 


1 1768.... 


384 




386 


r 1745.... 


386 


3 1754.... 


387 


' 1727.... 


o07 


1 1779.... 


397 


1 1755.... 


403 


) 1744.... 


404 


1 1733.... 


405 


' 1778.... 


405 


) 1749.... 


406 


L 1778.... 


407 


) 1754.... 


409 


1 1755 


410 


! 1746.... 


411 


i 


413 


: 1735 


414 


) 1751.... 


415 




416 


i 420 


i 1732.... 


421 


! 1777 


422 


t 1751 


426 


i 1743 


431 


: 1744 


431 


: 1765 


432 


1734 


432 




433 


i 1766 


....434 


i 1739 


438 


i 1753 


438 


1770 


....438 


1779 


....440 


1760 


....443 


1771 


....446 



BIOGRAPHICAL INDEX. 681 

Xame. Country. Date of Birth. Ordination. Death. pagb 

Aaron Burr Connecticut 1715 1737 17-37 447 

Walter Wilmot Long Island 1709 1738 1744 463 

David Alexander Ireland 1788 463 

John Elder Scotland 1788 1792 454 

David Sanckey Ireland 1780 457 

Silas Leonard Hffwwnmliliiwlli 1788 1764 468 

Samuel Cavin Ireland 1701 1739 1750 459 

Mc Henry Ireland 173'.' 1757 400 

Samuel Thomson 1739 1787 401 

John Craig Ireland 1711 1740 1774 ! 12 

Azariah Hoiton Massachusetts 1715 1740 1777 465 

John Guild M 1741 1787 466 

Samuel Evans Pennsylvania? 1742 467 

Alexander McDowell Ireland 1741 1782 488 

Hamilton Pel! 1742 409 

J..lm Rowland Walet 1738 1747 409 

William BoUnaon 1711 1746 474 

Charlee Beatty Ireland 1712-15.. ..1748 1772 478 

John Bindman 1712 481 

Timothy John.- Long Wand 1717 1748 1794 18] 

Timothy Griffith Penneybrania 1748 1764 481 

John Steel Erebnd 1711 177:' 184 

Scotland 1 1743 1748 186 

ight 1712 177s 485 

John Hair Ireland 1720 1742 1771 486 

Samuel Finley Inland 1715 1742 1768 486 

Eliah By ram Bfaaeaohuaetni 1748 1764 4'.*1 

Scotland 1732? 492 

Ereland 1741 1769 498 

Long Island 1719 1742 1752 494 

I era Delaware 1746 1780 196 

John Di.-k Maryland 1746 1747 494 

I unflton 1746 L766 496 

1746 198 

- itlaad 1748 491 

a pbell 1718 1717 L7M 491 

John Roan Freland 17 1". 1775 

k Oenneetleaf 1721 1746 1768 606 

Thomas Arthur L728 L746 LI 

Hunter 1746 17M 606 

Brainerd Ooanaetieni 1718 1744 17417 

1719 1746 1748 686 

Qreen M i ...1722 1746 I 

el Tonka* U 17(7 1717... 

Brown Scotland 1748 

1712 

tin.-.-t i.-.it 1716 1788 1767 ' 

Long Man. 1 1718 17(7 1768 646 

• Long bland 1741 L784... 



682 BIOGRAPHICAL INDEX. 

Name. Country. Date of Birth. Ordination. Death. page 

Timothy Symmes Massachusetts 1715 1744 1756 548 

Samuel Davies Delaware 1723 1747 1761 549 

John Brainerd Connecticut 1748 1781 563 

Job Prudden Connecticut 1715 1747 1774 569 

Thomas Lewis New England 1747 1778 572 

Andrew Sterling 1747 1766 573 

Andrew Bay Ireland 1747 1777? 573 

John Grant 1716 1746 1753 576 

John Rodgers Massachusetts 1727 1749 1811 576 

Aaron Richards 1719 1749 1793 583 

Caleb Smith Long Island 1723 1748 1762 582 

Timothy Allen 1716 1748 1806 583 

Israel Reid 1750 1793 585 

Daniel Thane Scotland 1750 1784? 586 

Enos Ayres 1750 1765 587 

Elihu Spencer Connecticut 1721 1750 1784 587 

Sylvanus White .Massachusetts 1704 1747 1756 591 

Samuel Buell Connecticut 1716 1746 .1798 592 

John Moffat Scotland 1751 1788 599 

Joseph Tate 1748 1774 600 

Samson Smith Ireland 1752? 601 

Robert McMordie 1754 1796 602 

Chauncey Graham Connecticut 1750 1784 602 

Samuel Kennedy Scotland 1751 1787 604 

Benjamin Chesnut England 1751 1775 604 

Johnes Brown Connecticut 1748 1788 605 

Naphthali Dagget Massachusetts 1727 1751 1780 606 

Jonathan Elmer New England 1750 1807 608 

Jonn Todd 1751 1793 608 

Conrad Worts Germany 1752 610 

James Finley Ireland 1725 1752 1795 610 

Evander Morrison Scotland 1752 612 

Robert Smith Ireland 1722 1751 1793 612 

Alexander Cumming New Jersey 1726 1750 1763 614 

Hugh Henry 1751 1763 616 

John Kinkead Ireland 1753? 616 

Alexander Miller Ireland 1757 618 

John Miller Massachusetts 1722 1749 1791 619 

William McKennan Delaware 1756 620 

Matthew Wilson Pennsylvania 1731 1755 1790 620 

Joseph Park 1752 621 

Samuel Harker 1752 622 

John Wright Scotland 1753 624 

The Church in New York 628 

Robert Henry Scotland 1752 1767 650 

John Smith England 1702 1763 1771 652 

Eleazer Whittlesey Connecticut 1752 653 

Nehemiah Greenman Connecticut 1750 1779 654 

John Brown Ireland 1728..., 1753 1803 656 



BIOGRAPHICAL INDEX. 683 

Name. Country. Date of Birth. Ordinstion. Peath. pagb 
1754 17 7... 

Knox Ireland 1766 17 >8 

Martin 1754 17G4 1 2 

Sootland 1756 662 

lelWhitaker Long bland 1722 1752 1726 

1 in Bail Connecticut 1766 177 

J tin TaUmadgfl Connection! 1726 1751 1786 

I lonneoticut 1710 175-3 1795 008 

Puttie Connecticut 1715 1747 1771 669 

1750 

William Pennsylvania I'-j- 1766 1771 670 

I Pennsylvania 1781 671 

I Doffield Pennsylvania 1782 1756 1790 0,72 

Hew Fork 17G2 1798 

1 tin 1757 074 

1 r Prime Conneotiont 1700 1728 177'.' 

anectiont 1768 T 1771 676 

Bootiand 1726 17-".^ 1801 076 

1 England 1758 078 



ALPHABETICAL LIST OF BIOGRAPHIES. 



Name. page 

Alexander, David 468 

Alison, Francis 440 

Alison, Hector 496 

Allen, Timothy 583 

Anderson, James 326 

Andrews, Jedediah 312 

Archbold, Andrew 420 

Arthur, Thomas., 504 

Ayres, Enos 587 

Ball, Eliphalet 657 

Bay, Andrew 573 

Bcatty, Charles 478 

Bell, Hamilton 469 

Bertram, William 411 

Black, Samuel 438 

Blair, John 486 

Blair, Samuel 426 

Bostwick, David 500 

Boyd, Adam 384 

Boyd, John 323 

Bradner, John 351 

Brainerd, David 506 

Brainerd, John 563 

Bratton, Thomas 342 

Brown, David 529 

Brown, David 497 

Brown, James 605 

Brown, John 656 

Buell, Samuel 592 

Burr, Aaron 447 

Byram, Eliab 491 

Campbell, Benjamin 414 

Campbell, James 530 

Campbell, John 497 

Carlisle. Hugh 433 

Cathcart, Robert 409 

684 



1 Name. pack 

Covin, Samuel 459 

j Chalker, Isaac 432 

; Chesnut, Benjamin 604 

Clement, John 371 

Conn, Hugh 351 

Cowell, David 443 

Craig, John 462 

Craighead, Alexander 434 

Creaghead, Thomas 381 

Cross, John 413 

Cross, Robert 367 

Cumming, Alexander 614 

Dagget, Naphtali 606 

Davenport, James 531 

Davies, Samuel 549 

Davis, Samuel 310 

Dean, William 526 

Dick, John 495 

Dickinson, Jonathan 358 

Dickinson, Moses 373 

Duffield, George G72 

Elder, John 454 

Elmer, Daniel 403 

Elmer, Jonathan 608 

Evans, David 347 

Evans, Samuel 467 

Evans, Thomas 374 

Finley, James 610 

Finley, Samuel 488 

Gelston, Samuel 361 

Gillespie, George 339 

Glasgow, Patrick 438 

Gould, Ebenezer 405 

Graham, Chauncey 602 



ALPHABETICAL LIST OF BIOGRAPHIES. 



685 



Name. page 

Grant, John 676 

Green, Jacob 527 

Greenman, Nehemiah 

Griffith, Timothy 483 

Guild, John 466 

Hait, Benjamin 067 

Hamilton, John 496 

Hampton, John 822 

Barker, Bamael 622 

Harris John 609 

Hemphill, Samuel 410 

Henry, Hngh 010 

Henry, John I 26 

Henry, Robert 050 

Hindman, John 481 

John 

Hook, Henry 363 

Horton, Axariah 46fi 

Horton, Simon 

H inston, Joseph 

HnbbeH, Nathaniel 

Ilniit'-r. A in hew 506 

II utcheson, Alexander B76 

m. Robert 4ol 

Johnes, Timothy 181 

lialaohi 846 



|y, Bamnel.... 
Kettletas, Abraham. 
Kinkead, John 

Knox, Hngh 



.604 
.018 



■-• 877 

884 

■ uuel 648 

1. 842 

i - r> s 

572 

. John B 11 

.1 I ■ 



M H tin, Jamei 481 

Martin, John 674 





Name. page 

Miller, John 019 

Moffat, John 5'J9 

Morgan, Joseph 335 

Morrison, Evander 012 

McAden, Hugh 671 

McCook, Archibald 

McCrea, James 498 

McDowell, Alexander 408 

McGill, Daniel 043 

Mc Henry, Francis 400 

MeKnight, Charles 485 

McKeunan, William 020 

MeMprdie, Robert 802 

McMillan, William 379 

MoNiah, George 318 

Nutman, John 415 

Orme, John 872 

Orr, Robert 

Orr, William 410 

Park. Joseph 621 

Parris, Noyea 886 

Patillo. Henry 678 

Paul, John 438 

Pemberton, Ebenezer 397 

Phillips, George 303 

Pierson, John 867 

Powell, Howell 846 

Prime, Ebeneier 676 

Prndden, Job 

Pttmry, Bamoel 

. William 870 

Lbner I • B 

Raid, brael 

Biohards, Aaron 

I ion, William 

John 498 

Bob iii-oii, William 17 1 

Rodgers, John 676 

Rowland, John 

• Bamnel 648 

y. Biohard 467 



smith, Calel 



686 



ALPHABETICAL LIST OF BIOGRAPHIES. 



Name. pace 

Smith, John 652 

Smith, Joseph 328 

Smith, Robert 612 

Smith, Sampson 601 

Spencer, Elihu 587 

Steel, John 484 

Sterling, Andrew 573 

Stevenson, Hugh 404 

Steward, William 371 

Sturgeon, Robert 492 

Symmes, Timothy 548 

Taylor, Nathaniel 318 

Tallmadge, Benjamin 667 

Tate, Joseph 600 

Tennent, Charles 446 

Tennent, Gilbert 387 

Tennent, John 421 

Tennent, William 364 

Tennent, William .1 422 

Thane, Daniel 586 

Thomson, John 355 

Thomson, Samuel 461 

Thorn, David 495 

Todd, John 608 



Name page 

Treat, Richard 407 

Tucker, Nathaniel 329 

Tuttle, Moses 869 

Van Vleck, Paulus 838 

Wade, Nathaniel 888 

Wales, Eleazer 106 

Walton, John 377 

Webb, Joseph 372 

Whitaker, Nathaniel 664 

White, Sylvanus ■~/.U 

Whittlesey, Eleazer 668 

Wilson, John 311 

Wilson, John 405 

Wilson, Matthew 020 

Wilmot, Walter 483 

Worts, Conrad 610 

Wotherspoon, Robert 347 

Wright, John 024 

Young, Samuel 307 

Youngs, David 494 

The Church in New York 628 



RESOLUTIONS 



SYNODS AND PRESBYTERIES. 



The well-known ability of the author prompted the adoption, by 
Bev< ral of the synods, and many of the presbyteries, of resolutions 
encouraging the extensive circulation of this History, and we publish all 
ive received up to the time of going to press. 

The following resolutions were passed unanimously by the 

SYNOD 01 BTHW J HUSKY. 
/*, It is well kn..wu that the late lUv. Richard Webster Kft. at the time 
of lii- death, a manuscript II i ~ t ■ > ry of the Presbyterian Church iii America. — a 

work full of antiquarian research ami facts of great value to all Presbyterians, — 

ari'I that the Intrinsic value of the work, together with the fact that the family 
of the author are interested iu its sale, renden its extensiTe circulation desirable: 

re — 

> '1 cordially and earnestly recommend this History 

of tin- r Church (about t" be published) to the ministers and churches 

onder "ur aare, and likewise express the hope that suitable effort will be used to 

large e numb u possible within the bounds of the 

•it we wouM respectfully raggesl to our Presbyterian Board of Pui>- 
tbe irorh in bands "f their oolportenrs, for the 
■i among all our churohesi 
it. K. Bon 

following wu also adopted ananimooeb/ bj the 

D OF PHTXADBLPH] L 

i Webster left f"r pnblioation a manuscript 
. Church in Imerioa, — a work of deep reeearoh and 

ii 



690 RESOLUTIONS OF 

of great value to all Presbyterians, — and the family of the author are interested 
in its sale, its extensive circulation is desirable : Therefore, 

Resolved, That this synod cordially recommend the History of the Presbyterian 
Church to the ministers and churches under our care, and earnestly request that 
every effort be made to secure the sale of as large a number of copies as 
possible. 

Resolved, That we would suggest to our Presbyterian Board of Publication the 
propriety of placing the work in the hands of their colporteurs, for the purpose 
of securing a more general circulation among all the members of our church. 

S. M. Andrews, 

Stated Clerk. 

Also, the following presbyteries : — 

PRESBYTERY OF NEW BRUNSWICK. 

Resolved, That this presbytery cordially approve of the publication of the 
History of the Presbyterian Church, by the late Rev. Richard Webster, believing 
that the well-known industry and habits of patient investigation which he for so 
many years gave to the whole subject of the antiquities of the Presbyterian 
churches in this country will make it all that might be expected. 

Resolved, That the work be recommended to the patronage of all the churches 

tinder our care. 

A. D. White, 

Staled Clerk. 

PRESBYTERY OF FORT WAYNE. 

Resolved, That we heartily commend the work to the churches under our 

care, as well as to individuals, as worthy of their confidence, entitled to their 

patronage, and adapted to their profit. 

Wilson M. Donaldson, 

Staled Clerk. 

PRESBYTERY OF DONEGAL. 
Resolved, That the presbytery have learned with great pleasure of the pro- 
posed publication of .the History of the Presbyterian Church, by the late Rev. 
Richard Webster ; and, in view of the intrinsic value of such a work, especially 
from so competent a source, as well as the relation which the enterprise bears to 
the family of the lamented deceased, would cordially recommend the forthcoming 
volume to the patronage of the members of our several congregations. 

John Farquhae, 

Stated Clerk. 



SYNODS AND PRESBYTERIES. C01 

PRESBYTERY OF LONG ISLAND. 

Resolved, That we heartily commend to the churches under our care, auJ to 
the community at large, the forthcoming History of the Presbyterian Church in 
America, by the late Rev. Riehard Webstar, and that we esteem it our privilege 
it the widest circulation possible within our bounds. 

T. McCauley, 

Stated Clerk. 

PRESBYTERY OF SOUTII CAROLINA. 

Resolved, That, inasmuch as the work promises to be a standard volume of 
Jue to the Presbyterian churches, and as the family of the self-denying 
and laborious author have an interest in its sale, we recommend that the members 
of this presbytery make special efforts in procuring subscribers for it. 

T. L. McBrtde, 

Stated Clerk. 

PRESBYTERY OF BEDFORD. 

I !at the members of presbytery be requested to act as agents in 
their nspectrre charges, to procure subscriptions for the new work about to be 
published, entitled •• The History of the Presbyterian Church," by the late Rev. 

William Patterson, 

Stated Clerk: 

PRESBYTERY OF CARLISLE. 
Renohed, That presbytery reoonunend to the pastors and sessions under its 
pussible, the circulation of the History of the Pres- 

b, by the lata Etar. Biohard Webster. 

Jama P. Ei inn or, 

■ Clerk. 

PBWBTTBB1 "V m:\v.\-tle. 

r, in regard to the publication of ■ iii-toryof 
iron, by tin* lata Bsr. EUehavd Webster: whereupon it was 
yterj do hsrsby earnestly re oo n un snd this forthcoming 
work t .- under it I 

I'. l>i BOIS, 

BHBBIBR. 
ph M. WOson, of Philadel] I 
pnbllsh a wa Chnrofa in thU country, do 

I 



692 RESOLUTIONS OF 

prepared by the late Rev. Richard Webster, and recommend it to the ministers 

and churches under our care. 

S. H. Brown, 

Staled Clerk. 

PRESBYTERY OF NORTHUMBERLAND. 
Resolved, That presbytery would earnestly commend the History of the Pres- 
byterian Church, by the Rev. Richard Webster, deceased, to the attention and 
patronage of the officers and members of our churches ; and the ministers of pres- 
bytery are requested to publish this resolution from their pulpits. 

Isaac Greer, 

Stated Clerk. 

PRESBYTERY OF MAURY. 
Resolved, That we cordially and earnestly recommend the History of the Pres- 
byterian Church in America, by the Rev. Richard Webster, to the members of all 
our churches, and to all others. 

J. Stephenson Frierson, 

Stated Clerk. 

PRESBYTERY OF RARITAN. 

The Stated Clerk laid befoi-e presbytery a communication from Mr. Joseph M. 
Wilson, of Philadelphia, in relation to the History of the Presbyterian Church, by 
the late Rev. Richard Webster, of Mauch Chunk, which he is about to publish for 
the benefit of the family of the author : whereupon it was 

Resolved, That this presbytery highly approve of this enterprise, and cordially 
recommend it to the patronage of our churches, and, furthermore, request our 
pastors and ruling elders to use their endeavours to obtain subscribers to the 
work in their respective congregations. 

A true extract : P 0. Studdiford, 

Stated Clerk. 

PRESBYTERY OF CHEROKEE. 

Resolved, That the History of the Presbyterian Church, by the late Rev. Richard 
Webster, — now in course of publication by Joseph M. Wilson, — be cordially recom- 
mended to all the churches and members under our care. 

John F. Lanneau, 

Stated Clerk. 

PRESBYTERY OF ERIE. 
A letter having been read — from J. M. Wilson, publisher — relative to the 
History of the Presbjtf erian Church, by Rev. Richard Webster, deceased, it was 
Resolved, That this presbytery do cordially recommend said history to the 



SYNODS AND PRESBYTERIES. Q9§ 

favourable notice of ministers and members of churches throughout our bounds, 
as an interesting and valuable contribution on a subject of great impi rtance to all 
lovers of the doctrines and order of the Presbyterian church ; and also to their 
acceptance, in view of the benevolent objects designed by its publication, as well 
a? of it- intrinsic excellency. 

Extract from Minutes of Presbytery of Erie, January 7, 1857. 

8. J. M. Eatoh, 

Stated Clerk. 

PRESBYTERY OF CENTRAL MISSISSIPPI. 
Resolved, That this presbytery feel a deep interest in the publication of the 
above-n:u:n 1 History, and WOUH earnestly recommend to our ministers, elders, 
and members t" subscribe for the .-nine, and Bend their names and subscriptions to 
Mr. J M. Wilson, of Philadelphia, the publisher. 

Jamks S. Montgomery, 

Stated Clerk. 

PRESBYTERY OF MISSISSIPPI. 
Resolved, That this presbytery take a deep interest in the circulation of this 
work, and earnestly recommend it to all the members of the church within their 
bounds; and, further, express the hope that each member of the presbytery, and 
the elders of our churches, will exert themselves to obtain subscriptions, and 
forward the same to Joseph M. Wilt o, 27 South Tenth Street, below Chestnut, 

Philadelphia. 

R. Thick, 

Stated Clerk. 

PEHSBYTEBI OS PALMYRA. 

Whereas, W> i that Joseph M. Wilson, <>f Philadelphia, is about to 

publish ■ History of the Presbyterian Church, by the hue Rev. Richard Webster: 

re — 

iH-iid to nil ""I- minister! and elders t" procure tho 
work, and to ml I i the fcmtn— of i-ur churches so for as practicable. 

A. 1'. FOBMAV, 

Clerk. 

PBBBBTTBBI OF L01 ESI LB \. 

t. i_v be reqc sut tho 

byterian Church to the church 

ird the same to Joseph VL 

bia. 

Jon a. Ban i n, 

I'lcrk. 



69-4 RESOLUTIONS OF SYNODS AND PRESBYTERIES. 



PRESBYTERY OF STEUBENVILLE. 
Resolved, That the History of the Presbyterian Church, by the late Rev. Richard 
Webster, — now in the course of publication by Joseph M. Wilson, of Phila- 
delphia, — will, no doubt, be both instructive and interesting, it be recommended 
to as many of the members as may find it convenient to subscribe for the same, 
especially as it is published for the benefit of the family of Mr. Webster. 

John R. Agnew, 

Stated Clerk. 

PRESBYTERY OF TUSCALOOSA. 
Resolved, That Presbytery earnestly recommend to the pastors and members of 
the churches under our care the History of the Presbyterian Church, by Rev. 
Richard Webster, now in course of publication, as, from the well-known reputa- 
tion of the author, it will be a volume of great interest and value. 

C. A. Stillman, 

Stated Clerk. 

PRESBYTERY OF HUNTINGDON. 
Resolved, That pastors be requested to interest themselves in the circulation of 
Webster's History of the Presbyterian Church. 

ROBEET HAMMII.L, 

Stated Clerk. 

PRESBYTERY OF CONCORD. 

Whereas, Mr. Joseph M. Wilson, of Philadelphia, is about to publish a History 
of the Presbyterian Church, prepared by the late Rev. Richard Webster; therefore, 
Resolved, That this presbytery would cordially recommend to all our ministers 
and members of our churches to supply themselves with the work. 

R. H. Lafferty, 

Stated Clerk. 

SECOND PRESBYTERY OF PHILADELPHIA. 
Extract from the Minutes of the Second Presbytery of Philadelphia, at Brides- 
burg, October 8, 1856:— 

" Presbytery earnestly recommended to all its members, ministers, and elders, to 
take such action in their respective congregations as, in their judgment, will best 
secure a wide circulation of the Church History prepared by the late Rev. R. Web- 
ster, and now in course of publication by Mr. Joseph M. Wilson, of Philadelphia." 
A true extract. Jacob Belville, 

Stated Clerk. 



PRESBYTEBIAN HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 



At a meeting of the Executive Committee of tiie Presbyte- 
rian HISTORICAL 80CTETY, held on August 5th, 1850, the undersigned 
Was appointed to draw up a statement in reference to the plans and 
objects of the Society, and to append it to the Rev. Richard Webster's 
1 sbyterian Church. In conformity with this resolution, 

the following statement is respectfully presented to the public: — 

The PBE8BTTKBIAN HISTORICAL SOCIETY was organized at the meet- 
ing of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in the United 

, in the city of Charleston, South Carolina, in May, 

At the anniversary meeting of the Society held in the city of 

Buffalo in May, 1^54, some amendments were made in the Constitution, 

chiefly with a view to secure tlie co-operation of all branches of the I'n 3- 

1 ehnrch. These amendments were more definitely inoorp 
into the Constitution at the anniversary meeting held iu the city of 
Philadelphia, in May, L856. The Revised Constitution will be found 
• in. nt. 
yterian Bistorioal Society aims at accomplishing the follow* 

: — 

I T. "■■! flu materiak — manuscript, published, <>r traditionary — 
which serve t.> illnstratc toe history of the Presbyterian Churoh in the 
1 Lmerioa. 

II. To pr e t e rm the* materiaU aaft from danger, and a c c e ss i ble to 
all, at a location oonvenienl for general refer nee. 

III. To promote th< knowledge at the history thus collected ai 

This will be done, in part, by the oiroulatioo of an Annual 



69b PRESBYTERIAN HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 

Report and Address ; by public meetings, held from time to time in dif- 
ferent parts of the Church, at which papers on historical subjects may be 
read and discussed ; and by the publication of such of the writings of the 
Presbyterian fathers, and of other historical memorials, as may be deemed 
expedient. 

The mode in which co-operation can be efficiently and successfully 
exerted may be in the following, among other forms which may suggest 
themselves to your independent reflections : — 

1. By every presbytery, in all the churches represented in the So- 
ciety, taking measures to induce each minister to write, without delay, 
the history of the church or churches which he serves, — the whole col- 
lection to be arranged in historical order, and prefaced by a general 
history of the presbytery, by some person or committee appointed for that 
purpose; the latter committee also to secure the history of vacant 
churches. 

The following points in the history of the churches are of special im- 
portance, — viz. : the circumstances of their organization; the names of all 
their ministers and elders ; number of communicants at different periods; 
revivals; donations to benevolent objects; candidates for the ministry; 
foreign missionaries; schools for education of children, &c, — in short, all 
the details of the religious or secular history likely to be interesting. 

2. The presbytery may do a very important historical service by ob- 
taining a biographical sketch of every minister in their body who departs 
this life; and also of elders, or prominent laymen, as may seem desirable. 
A biographical sketch of our deceased ministers, in particular, is absolutely 
necessary in elucidating the history of the Church. The following points 
are of special biographical interest: — Age and place of birth; whether 
of pious parents ; at what college and seminary educated ; circumstances 
of conversion ; when licensed and ordained ; his various fields of labour ; 
incidents and characteristics of his ministry or public life; name of wife 
and of children ; publications ; circumstances and date of death, &c. 

3. In the third place, the presbytery is requested to co-operate in 
obtaining, for present use, a complete list of all the ministers of the 
Presbyterian Church, from the beginning, with the dates of their ordina- 
tion, and their names written out in full, with the name of the ordaining 
presbytery-. This can be done: — 1st. By each minister giving his own 
name, with date of ordination and the ordaining presbytery, to some 



PRESBYTERIAN HISTORICAL SOCIETY. G97 

one who will transmit the whole list of the presbytery to the Society. 
2d. By each presbytery authorising seine person, who may volunteer to 

do the work, to transcribe from the records of presbytery the nam< 
dates of all the ordinations from the organization of the presbytery. By 
these means immediate information can be obtained, on the points in 
:i, whioh is an object of great interest, as records amy be destroyed, 
deaths may ensue, and other providential hinderances may occur. 

1. It is extremely desirable for every minuter to transmit to the So- 
ciety a eopy of every published sermon, or other religious and literary 
production of his pen; and also to send a manuscript sermon, to be 
deposited among the archives of the Society as a memorial connected with 
the current history of the Church, — which will, with the lapse of time, 
possess increasing interest t • Pn sbyteriaufl generally, as well as to those 
specially concerned in such collections. 

.". Each n m ■' ■'■ /■, elder, and member of the congregation may oo- 

by collecting and transmitting old Bermons, pamphlets, news- 

. I< tters, books, manuscripts, portraits, or any relics of 

the olden time, which throw light upon our annals. A copy of all the 

Presl .•■■ tan ; >ks, pamphlets, and periodicals, is also desired, — it 

being the purpose of the Booiety to publish annually an historical account 

of the current literature of the Presbyterian Church, and tu collect all 

1 1 i < ■ publications — past, present) or future — whioh illustrate its lite- 
rature. 

Saving thus frankly stated the objects of the [nstitation and tho 
refianc - them, the co-operation of every presbytery and 

of all the members of our congregations is respectfully Boliorted, in the 
ted, or in whatever way may best suit their con- 
venience. 

It will be bo n at onee thai i work of do ordinary magnitude and dili- 
efore the Ohuroh. Much historical research, Literary labour, 
• toil, and miscellaneous drudgery, must be endured for history's 
and the Church's Bake. Considerable expense will also be Involved in 
carrying into execution plans for cultivating a field so extensive, 
long left a oomparatively-negleoted waste. The Booiety will endeavour 
to meet honourably all necessary and reasonable claims for remuneration j 
hut they know too well the ministers and members of th< I 
ohurohes not to suppose that, in b work like tl till bo 



698 PRESBYTERIAN HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 

spontaneously and gratefully rendered. History presents interesting and 
important topics of investigation ; and the particular history of the Pres- 
byterian Church, in its different branches, has materials of doctrinal, 
ecclesiastical, literary, evangelistic, and political value, which invite the 
free and full investigations of her most devoted and ablest sons. 

All which is respectfully submitted. 
i C. Van Rensselaer, 

Chairman of Executive Committee. 
Philadelphia, March, 1857. 

P.S. — In this connection, it is deemed proper to append the 
CHARTER of the Presbyterian Historical Society, which has 
just passed the Legislature of Pennsylvania. The Constitution of the 
Society will be found in the Act of Incorporation. 



AN ACT TO INCORPORATE THE PRESBYTERIAN HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 

Section 1. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives 
of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania in General Assembly met, and it 
is hereby enacted by authority of the same, That David Elliott, "William M. 
Engles, W. R. De Witt, Albert Barnes, George H. Stuart, J. B. Dales, J. 
T. Cooper, James Hoge, Charles Hodge, Samuel Hazzard, Samuel Agnew, 
Robert J. Breckinridge, William Chester, George Howe, William B. 
Spragug, Henry A. Boardman, C. Van Rensselaer, John C. Backus, John 
Leyburn, William S. Martien, Alfred Nevin, Thomas H. Skinner, John 
A. Brown, Samuel H. Cox, Peter Force, Edwin F. Hatfield, George Duf- 
field, George Duffield, Jr., Henry B. Smith, Matthew W. Baldwin, Henry 
J. Williams, B. J. Wallace, J. N. McLeod, John Forsyth, James Wood, 
Thomas Beveridge, James M. Wilson, T. W. J. Wylie, S. J. Wylie, 
Thomas Smyth, M. L. P. Thompson, and J. F. Stearnes, and their asso- 
ciates and successors, shall forever be, and they are hereby, erected and 
created a body politic and corporate in deed and in law, by the name, 
style, and title of the Presbyterian Historical Society, and by that name, 
style, and title shall have and enjoy perpetual succession, and be able aud 
capable to purchase, receive, take hold, and dispose of real and personal 
estate, to sue and be sued, plead and be impleaded, to receive and make 
all deeds, transfers, conveyances, and assurances, contracts, and agree- 
ments whatever, to have and use a common and corporate seal, and the 
same to break, alter, and renew at pleasure, and generally to do and per- 



PRESBYTERIAN HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 699 

form any act, matter, and thing necessary to promote the objects and 
. of this act of incorporation, with full power to enact and repeal all 
• •-illations, and by-laws which may be found expedient or desirable: 
7' , That Boob rules, regulations, and by-laws .shall not be 

Contrary to OT inoonirififflll with the Constitution of the United States or 
of this Commonwealth. 

Sect. 2. That the fundamental articles of the Constitution of this So- 
-hull be B£ follows : — 

1. This Society shall bo known by the name of the Presby- 
terian Historical Society. 

Art. 2. The objects of this Society shall be to collect and preserve tho 
materials Mid to promote the knowledge, of the History of the Presby- 
terian Church in the United States of America. 

Art. 8. Any branch of the Presbyterian Church, whose adinissiou shall 

be approv.-.l by the Society at its annual meeting, shall become an integral 

part of the same. The branches now constituting the Society are — The 

terian Church whose Genoa! Assembly net in the First Presbyter 

rian Church in New V(,rk City, in one thousand eight hundred and tit'ty- 
six ; The Presbyterian Church whose General Assembly met in the Pres- 
byterian Church on Madi.-on Square in New York City, in one thousand 
Sight hundred and ' he Associate Reformed Church, the 

rian Church, and the Reformed Presbyterian Church. 

Art. 1. Aii-, ]•■ : ome a member of this Society by the pay- 

ment of one dollar annually, and shall thereby be entitled to receive a 

copy of the annual report The payment of tan dollars at one time, or in 

annual | ; all eoii.-tituto a lite-member. 

.1//. o. The offioen of the Society shall be a President, one Vioe- 
| eh of the ehurchee represented in die Society, I a Cor- 

i . and Recording Secretary, a Treasurer, and an Executive Com- 

mittee, of which committee at least one member shall be from each of the 
S iety: all the omoera shall be elected at each 
annual meeting of the Society. 

Art. 6. The annual meeting of the Society shall be held in the oity of 
Philadelphia on thi j in .May. 

Committee shall be oomposed of ooi less than 
cine dot more than . fof whom the Corresponding Seore- 

i i irer shall be members ex officio^) to whom shall b 

the work of devising and executing measures, to secure the objeota 
of the - 'i hey -hall make an Annual Report of their pro© 

nt the Annivi ting* shall oause u address or addrossoi to be de- 

during the meeting of the General aasembl] or Synod of eaoh 
i id shall have pow< r to issue publi- 

from time to time, and to provide means fox defraying th< 



700 PRESBYTERIAN HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 

sary expenses of their operations. The Executive Committee shall meet 
quarterly, on the first Tuesdays of February, May, August, and November, 
and at other times, if deemed necessary by any two members, on the call 
of the chairman. Vacancies occurring in their body by death or other- 
wise may be filled at any regular quarterly meeting. 

Art. 8. The formation of a library, containing publications and manu- 
scripts, shall be regarded as a prominent measure to be accomplished by 
the Society. The Executive Committee shall have charge of the library, 
and shall appoint a Librarian. Publications, manuscripts, and other his- 
torical relics, may be placed on deposit in the library, to be returned to 
the persons depositing the same on their written application. 

Art. 9. This Constitution may be amended by a vote of two-thirds of 
the members present at any annual meeting : Provided, That notice of 
such alteration be proposed at a preceding meeting of the Society. 

Sect. 3. That the officers and members of the Executive Committee 
of this Society, until others are regularly chosen under the provisions of 
this act, shall be those now in office, namely: — President, Thomas H. 
Skinner, D.D.; Vice-Presidents, K. J. Breckinridge, D.D., LL.D., William 
B. Sprague, D.D., Edward F. Hatfield, D.D., Colonel Peter Force, John 
Forsyth, D.D., John N. McLeod, D.D., Thomas Beveridge, D.D.; Secre- 
tary, J. B. Dales, D.D.; Treasurer, Samuel Agnew, Esq.; Executive Com- 
mittee, C. Van Kensselaer, D.D., J. C. Backus, D.D., Samuel Hazzard, 
Esq., George Duffield, Jr., B. J. Wallace, H. J. Williams, Esq., G-. H. 
Stuart, Esq., J. B. Dales, D.D., and Joseph T. Cooper, D.D. 

Sect. 4. That the annual income of the real estate held at any time 
by the said Society shall not at any time exceed the sum of three thou- 
sand dollars. 



P.S. — All donations for the Presbyterian Historical Society may be sent to Samuel 
Agnew, Esq., 821 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia. 



A LIST OF SUBSCRIBERS 



HISTORY OF THE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, 



A''>"-;. uadelphla. 

W. II.. Philadelphia, 

I.. Summit Hill. Pa. 

Bar. 0. •'.. 81 Louis, Ho. 

J. \\\, Tauiaqua; Pa. 

ille, 0. 
Adam, Bar. M I'.. Dyknaa'flStetfoiifN.T. 

B. I... rheoLSem., aJlegbeny, l'a. 
Agnew. Bar. J. B., Bteubenrille, U. 

Samuel, Philadelphia. 

0, l'n. 

Alexander, Pranoia, Potter's F"rt, Pa. 

i,-r .n: Orier, Kishacoqtdllas, P i. 

Alexander, J. I . D i> . Princeton, N..F. 

J. B . I. inisriUe, By. 
Alexander, John, Kishacoquillas, Pa. 
Alexander, B., M.l>.. Clinton, Ua. 

!'• ton, N.J. 

elphia. 
rakttn, l.i. 
town, N..I. 
Allen, John, Wj ■ c, Pa. 

■ . John, Wiluamsbui 
AlH-oii, Andrew, Banting l • 
Allium, John, In U una, Pa. 
Alli-"M, Mrs. M iry, Bontfa • l< n, P l 
Alii-'ii. Bobarl k . \ Henri 

al B., Newton, V.f. 
BnmmerBald, 
d, Junes A., Clinton 

I i. - 1 . Ifo. 

M II., Hunting. I 

B r Theo.8em.Columl 

. bui /, P i. 

h Chunk, I'll. 

Philadelphia. 



Ansley, J. A., Augusta, Gkv 
Ansley, W. J., Augusta, Ga. 
Anthony, J. J., Sholocta, Pa. 
Archibald, E. A., Pleasant Ridge, Ala. 
Archibald, .1. H., Pleasant Ridge, Ala. 
Arhii. Mrs. Allison, West Chester, N.V. 
Arm-. Ber. Clifferd 8., Bidgehury, N.T. 
Armstrong, B», Gtarmantown, Pa. 
Armstrong, J., IfeigSYille, 0. 
Armstrong, J. D., Bomney, Ya. 
Armstrong, Ber. John, Basleton, Pa 
Armstrong, Bar. R,, Adena, 0. 
Arn.-ii, \v. II., Ptorenee, Ala. 
Arthur, William C, Baltimore, Ml. 
Atkins, Layton T., Fredericksburg, V i. 
Attefcbury, B. .1. ;'.. Trenton, N.J. 
Atwator, L II ., D.D., Prineeton, N.J. 
\x:.!l. Kcv. C, Qalonn. 111. 
Ayrault, Son. Allen, Geneseo, N.T. 

Bar. John w\, Pig i Creek, Ifo. 

Backus, John ('.. I».I>.. Baltimore, Ml. 

John I'.. D.D., Behaneetady, N.V. 
Boar, M Bmora, Md. 

Bailey, Benjamin 8., Biohmond,0. 
Bailey, James, Kishacoqaill i 

J mcey, h i\ I (reel \ i 
i'.. i'.i».. Columbus, Mi--. 
Baird, Bar. J. H . Loal B (ran, Pa. 

Balrd, Bar. B.J., B Ibnry, N.J. 

B dear, BBaa, aJtoena, P i 

I .. Qoinoy, III. 

Bar. John P., ' 

m P, Am.iia. North Salem, N.T. 

Baldwin, Bar. J. a.. Newark, v.'. 
701 



702 



A LIST OF SUBSCRIBERS TO THE 



Bank, Ephraini M., Greenville, Ky. 
Banks, Gen. E., Lewistown, Pa. 
Banks, Hugh S., Newburg, N.Y. 
Barber, Augustus S., Woodbury, N.J. 
Bard, Rev. Isaac, Greenville, Ky. 
Barefoot, John, Milroy, Pa. 
Barker, Ralph, West Chester, N.Y. 
Barnard, Rev. Alfred, West Chester, N.Y. 
Barnard, John, D.D., Lima, N.Y. 
Barnes, Mrs. E., Tamaqua, Pa. 
Barnes, James C, D.D., Somerset, Ky. 
Barnes, J. Edward, Tamaqua, Pa. 
Barnwell, Robert, Indiana, Pa. 
Barr, Rev. Andrew, Crestline, 0. 
Barr, Rev. J. C, Princeton, 111. 
Barrett, Rev. Myron, Newton, N.J. 
Bates, Davis, Milroy, Pa. 
Bathgate, R. D., Sinking Valley, Pa. 
Bayard, James, Philadelphia. 
Bayard, Col. N. J., Rome, Ga. 
Beadle, Rev. E. R., Hartford, Conn. 
Bean, J. S., Augusta, Ga. 
Beard, Benjamin, Hardin, Iowa. 
Beard, John, Philadelphia. 
Beard, William, Hardin, Iowa. 
Beattie, Rev. D., Scotchtown, N.Y. 
Beattie, Rev. James, West Chester, N.Y. 
Beattie, Rev. R. H., Salisbury Mills, N.Y. 
Beatty, C. C, D.D., SteubenviUe, 0. 
Beatty, John, Milroy, Pa. 
Beatty, John, Philadelphia. 
Beatty, Ormond, Prof., Danville, Ky. 
Beck, C. F., M.D., Philadelphia. 
Beck, T. W., Rodney, Miss. 
Beebe, Capt. E. H., Galena, HI. 
Beebe, Mrs. Sarah, Galena, 111. 
Beisel, William, Wilkesbarre, Pa. 
Belden, E. L., Theol. Sem., Allegheny, Pa. 
Belford, George, Mauch Chunk, Pa. 
Bell, George, Milroy, Pa. 
Bellas, Thomas, Philadelphia. 
Bellville, Rev. Jacob, Hartsville, Pa. 
Bemiss, J. W., M.D., Rodney, Miss. 
Benedict, A. W., Huntingdon, Pa. 
Benedict, G. C, North Salem, N.Y. 
Berry, J. M. S., Paris, Mo. 
Bertsch, Daniel, Mauch Chunk, Pa. 
Bertsch, Daniel, Jr., Mauch Chunk, Pa. 
Betts, N. N., Towanda, Pa. 



Beveridge, Rev. A. M., Hoosick Falls, N.Y. 
Beveridge, Rev. T. H., Philadelphia. 
Beveridge, Thomas, D.D.,Xenia. 0. 
Bick, George, Port Carbon, Pa. 
Bigham, John, Baltimore, Md. 
Billington, H., Sunbury, Pa. 
Bingham, Rev. W. R., Wai-ren Tavern, Pa. 
Bird, A. D., Hazleton, Pa. 
Bissell, Rev. S. B. S., New York. 
Bittinger, Rev.E.C, U.S.N., Philadelphia, 
Black, A. W., D.D., Sewickleyville, Pa. 
Blackburn, Rev. A., Bristol, Tenn. 
Blackwell, Rev. H., Flint Hill, Mo. 
Blackwood, John F., Hamburg, Ga. 
Blackwood, William, D.D., Philadelphia. 
Blair, Brice X., Shade Gap, Pa. 
Blair, D., Huntingdon, Pa. 
Bloom, Joseph, White Haven, Pa. 
Boal, Hon. George, Boalsburg, Pa. 
Boardman, H. A., D.D., Philadelphia. 
Boggs, A. C, West Liberty, Va. 
Boggs, Rev. John M., Independence, Iowa. 
Boiling, A., Richmond, Va. 
Bones, Mrs. S., Augusta, Ga. 
Borden, John, Philadelphia. 
Bossert, John J., Mauch Chunk, Pa. 
Bosworth, Rev. E., Baltimore, Md. 
Bouton, Edgar M., Galena, 111. 
Bower, Rev. E. R., Wappinger Falls, N.Y. 
Bowers, Aaron, Theo. Sem., Allegheny, Pa. 
Bowers, C, M.D., Newton Hamilton, Pa. 
Bowman, Rev. J. R., Eutaw, Ala. 
Boyd, Alexander, Philadelphia. 
Boyd, David, Philadelphia. 
Boyd, Miss Jane, Washingtonville, Pa. 
Boyd, Mrs. Jean L., Philadelphia. 
Boyd, Joseph E., Mt. Vernon, Iowa. 
Boyd, J. Howard, Baltimore, Md. 
Boyd, J. S., Theol. Sem., Allegheny, Pa. 
Boyd, Mrs. Margaret, Rising Sun, la. 
Boyd, W. B., Petersburg, Va. 
Boyle, Edwin, Mauch Chunk, Pa. 
Boyles, James, Philadelphia. 
Brace, R. J., Trenton, N.J. 
Bracken. Rev. T. A., Independence, Mo. 
Brackett, Mrs. S. A., Rock Island, 111. 
Bradshaw, Rev. F., Bridgeville, Ala. 
Brank, Rev. R. G., Lexington, Ky. 
Brearley, Johnes, Lawrenceville, N.J. 



HISTORY OF THE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. 



703 



. Joseph G., Trenton, N.J. 
iidge.R.J..D.D.,LLL»..Danville,Kj 
Breed, Bar. W. P., Philadelphia. 
Briahin, Duvi 1. \ Pa. 

Brodhead, A. G., Jr., Mauch Chunk, Pa. 

i. A. J., Mauch Chunk, Pa. 

i, L. \Y., White Haven, Pa. 

.. Ih mas, B lekport, Pa. 
BrothweU, Miss Fran a, Pa. 

Broughton, J. I!.. 1: 
Brown, Rev. Allen II., May's Landing, X J. 

I: -. An lr.w. Philadelphia. 
Browu, D., Philadelphia. 
Brown, Mrs. I)., Prinoeton, N..T. 
Brown, Geo. w., M.D., PortOarbon,Pa. 
Brown, Jamea, Angual 
Brown, John, White Haven, Pa. 
Brown, Joaeph, Wilkes! are, Pa. 

teville, Pa. 
i II., Frankfort, Ya. 

. 

Browi Pa. 

. 111. 

. Wallace, Mill Hall. Pa. 

Bryan, R. 1'.., Holtidaysburg, Pa. 
. w illiao F., Peoria, 111. 
. 8., Bri Igetoo, N.J. 
Buck, Mi- g Sarah II., Bridgeton, N.J. 
Budman, Kiiat Sarah, Danville, Pa. 
Bnfoi 

. Rome, Pa. 
Bullock, - 1 M Chunk, Pa. 

Burdett, Bar. at, Philadelphia, 
B J. < 

<•, Pa. 
i • ■ B . I • ■ . i. i . 
more, M I. 

■• !. N..I. 

I 

N.Y. 
L W., M in- J. Chon .. Pa 

B a. i».. ii ; : d ;■ I org, Pa> 
' Hon. 8 . n 

< I . Uleghenj Citj 

I n. lie., ii, 

I G H.i 

1 I. mi. 

11, Hugh, Philadelphia. 



Campbell, James E., Rising Sun, la. 
Campbell, John W., Brimheld, 111. 
Campbell, Joaeph, Jr., Belleville, Pa. 
Campbell, J. N., D.D., Albany, K.Y. 

Campbell, J. 0., Belleville. Pa. 

Campbell, Ruben, Belleville, Pa. 

Campbell, S. C, Kuoxville, IVnu. 
Canfield, W. P.., Baltimore. Md. 

Canning. Mark, Philadelphia. 

. Bev. William. Cambridge, Wis. 

Canaine, Andrew, Franklin, la. 

Carnahan, Rev. D. T., Baltimore, Md. 
Carnahan, Jamea, D.l»., Princeton, N.J. 
Out, F. B. C, Charlottesville, \ a. 
• 'air, John, Trenton, N..I. 
Carroll, Rev. IS., Clover Hill. N..1. 
Carroll, Mies Josephine, New York. 

Canon, Mrs. Mary, Marion, N.C. 

Canon, Thomas, Philadelphia. 

Carter, John, Bloomsbury, N.J. 

fart r, Bobert .s; Brothers, New Ionic. 

h Chunk, Pa. 

Castner, Wesley w.. l'.l mnabnry, N.J. 
Cater, Bev. Edwin, BaddreUs, B.C. 

("hi, Christopher, Sinking Yalley, Pa. 

Cattail, Bar. w. c. Bneton, Pa, 
Catto, Bar. William T., Philadelphia. 
Chamberlain, John, Pontiac, Mich. 
Chambers, CoL Geo;, Chambenbux . Pa. 
Chamben, John s., Trenton, N.i. 
Chapin, Lyman, Albany, [f.Y. 
Chapman, J. EL, m rach Chunk, Pa. 
Chapman, R. Sett, B.D., Aah iville, N c. 
Chappin, Thomee, Jr., Columbus, Qa. 
ash, Soranton, Pa. 
i. i... ii.it., Philadelphia. 

m '- -I. 
r, William, i>.u., Philadelphia. 
Cbilae, Bradley, White Saves, Pa. 

i • s., Hartford, Conn. 
1 . v. .. Ifllroy, Pa. 
Christ] in, Bev. L n.. Philadelphia. 

.1 \.. M.lllint.i^n. Pa, 

church. B*arvi 
Clark, UiaaAnnie I'... W 
chirk, John, llaoomb, Dl. 

Clark, William I ., ii 



704 



A LIST OF SUBSCRIBERS TO THE 



Clarke, Freeman, Rochester, N Y. 
Clarke, Henry S., D.D., Philadelphia. 
Clarke, Rev. Joseph, Chauibersburg, Pa. 
Clarke, Robert C, Augusta, Ga. 
Clarke, Samuel S., Peoria, 111. 
Clayton, Rev. J. A., Clarkston, Mich. 
Clegg, Isaac, Mt. Pleasant, Iowa. 
Clift, Joseph, Holmesburg, Pa. 
Clifton, William B., Louisville, Ky. 
Close, H. L., Milroy, Pa. 
Close, W. T., Milroy, Pa. 
Cobb, Rev. A. P., Philadelphia. 
Cochran, Rev. William P., Hansons, Mo. 
Coffee, Alexander D., Florence, Ala. 
Coffee, Mrs. John, Florence, Ala. 
Collins, Charles, Philadelphia. 
Collins, Rev. Charles J., Wilkesbarre, Pa. 
Collins, Hon. Orestes, AVilkesbarre, Pa. 
Colt, Charles, Jr., Geneseo, N.Y. 
Colt, Rev. S. F., Towanda, Pa. 
Colwell, Stephen, Philadelphia. 
Candict, Rev. J. B., Stillwater, N.J. 
Condit, J. W., M.D., Dover, N.J. 
Condron, James, Hollidaysburg, Pa. 
Cone, Ephraim, Geneseo, N.Y. 
Connitt, Rev. G. W., Deep Run, Conn. 
Connor, E. T., Summit Hill, Pa. 
Conrad, Rev. L. L., West Manchester, Pa. 
Cook, Cyrus, Rome, Pa. 
Cook, Rev. Darwin, Rome, Pa. 
Cook, Watts, Scranton, Pa. 
Cook, William G., Trenton, N.J. 
Cook, Ziri, Rome, Pa. 
Cooper, A. B., Prairie Bluff, Ala. 
Cooper, Rev. Charles W., Pontiac, Mich. 
Cooper, John, Philadelphia. 
Cooper, Rev. Joseph T., Philadelphia. 
Cooper, Rev. S. M., Walker, Pa. 
Copp, Rev. J. A., Chelsea, Mass. 
Corey, Rev. Benj., Perth Amboy, N.J. 
Corl, Nathan, Boalsburg, Pa. 
Corning, Erastus, Albany, N.Y. 
Cortright, N. D., Mauch Chunk, Pa. 
Coryell, M., Hazleton, Pa. 
Coulter, Rev. David, Lexington, Mo. 
Couper, James, M.D., Newcastle, Del. 
Couper, William, Newcastle, Del. 
Covert, Daniel, Franklin, la. 
Covert, George L., Franklin, la. 



Covert, P. G., Franklin, la. 
Cowell, Mrs. Sarah, Wilkesbarre, Pa. 
Cox, Alexander, Boalsburg, Pa. 
Crabb, Rev. John M., Bryan, 0. 
Craig, J., Augusta, Ga. 
Craig, Samuel, Bordentown, N.J. 
Crane, Walter B., Rondout, N.Y. 
Craven, Rev. Elijah R., Newark, N.J. 
Craven, H. L., Th. Sem., Princeton, N.J. 
Crawford, Alexander, Baltimore, Md. 
Crawford, Rev. A. L., Indiantown, S.C. 
Crawford, Armstrong, Sinking Valley, Pa. 
Crawford, E.D., M.D., Thompsontown, Pa. 
Crawford, Mrs. Eunice, SinkingValley,Pa. 
Crawford, Holmes, Chambersburg, Pa. 
Crawford, Joseph, Sinking Valley, Pa. 
Crawford, J. R., Hollidaysburg, Pa. 
Crawford, Rev. Robert, Crookville, Pa. 
Crawford, Rev. Thomas M., Slatehill, Pa. 
Creveling, Jacob V., Washington, N.J. 
Creveling, John A., Bloomsbury, N.J. 
Crook, William T., Crookville, Pa. 
Crooks, H. L., Galena, 111. 
Crouch, George, Bethel, Pa. 
Crowell, Rev. James M., Parksburg, Pa. 
Cullen, William, Rising Sun, la. 
Cumming, S. J., Monroeville, Ala. 
Cumming, Thomas, Williamsburg, Pa. 
Cummins, Col. Wm., Kishacoquillas, Pa. 
Cummins, Williamson, Belleville, Pa. 
Cunningham, R., Mifflintown, Pa. 
Curran, Rev. Richard, Petersburg, Pa. 
Curtin, Hon. A. G., Belief onte, Pa. 
Curwen, John, M.D., Harrisburg, Pa. 
Cuttler, J., Hardin, Iowa. 
Cuttler, W., Hardin, Iowa. 
Cuyler, Mrs. C. C, Philadelphia. 
Cuyler, Theodore, Philadelphia. 

Dale, Rev. James W., Chester, Pa. 
Dales, Rev. J. B., Philadelphia. 
Dana, Ara, Tunkhannock, Pa. 
Dana, Daniel, D.D., Newburyport, Mass. 
Daniel, Hugh, Green Tree, Pa. 
Daniel, Mrs. R. T., Richmond, Va. 
Daughtrey, M. F., M.D., Portsmouth, Va. 
Davenport, Mrs. Mary, Hazleton, Pa. 
David, S., Knoxville, Ala. 
Davidson, A., Louisville, Ky. 



HISTORY OF THE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. 



705 



Davidson, Robt., D.D., N. Brunswick, X.J. 
:i. R., Troy, N.V. 

W.. Augusta, Ga. 
Rer. J.Le B m,S.C. 

B., Titusville, N.J. 
•J Pa. 
. Kiioiville, Tenn. 
an, Fnakfta I 

_\ Pa. 

m Hamburg, N.V. 
Delancy, N., Kio.xville. Tenn. 

N. M., Williamsbnrg, 0. 

VS., Philadelphia. 

BoIHdsysburg, Pa. 
. Cfannk, Pa. 
:i. Aqnffla, Mermaid, DeL 
Dexter, Mrs. B., Maneh Chunk, Pa. 
•. . John N., Kittanim 

.. Pa. 
Dickson. Rev. Cyras, Baltimore, Md. 

■.. .1 unea N.. Philadelphia. 
Diskson, Robert M., Vernon, Iowa. 
Diehl, Joseph, Danville, Pa. 

•h, Robert, D.D., Rnoa v.. 
Dock, Res. I). 0., Oxford, M- . 

-'■pli, Tulip, Ark. 

r, W. A., Princeton, N.J. 
J. V., Springfield, 111. 

•'i.rly. Pa. 

Philadelphia. 

I ' ■ . .i mi. Tamaqo 

n i. I. \ ' i. 

Mill Ball, Pa. 
1( ,M 
. Pa. 

I I 
Doraheimi 

lentown, v.i. 
1 1 M b Chunk, Pa, 

D ■ - irgi Pa. 

D I'M iob Chunk, Pa. 

.. Pa. 

Drake, < Ma 

ii. i. ry J.. Philadelphia. 



Du Bois, Edward, Taniaqua. Pa. 
Dudley, Rev. J. D., Dover's Mills. Va. 
Duttield, Rev. George, Jr., Philadelphia. 
Duffield. Rer. J^hu T., Princeton, N.J. 
Duncan, Samuel, Sinking Valley, Pa. 
Duncan, Mrs. S. P., Port Gibson, Miss. 
Dungan, C. B., Philadelphia. 
Dunham, A. W., Clinton, N.J. 

Donlap, James, Philadelphia. 

Donlap, J. E., Theol. Sem., Columbia, S.C. 

Donlap, John, Bpringfii 

Dunlap, Robert, Blanch Chunk, Pa. 

Donlap, Mftj. N\ . B., Coates' Tavern, S.C. 

Dnnwody, John, RosweU, Ga. 

Dwart, William L., Suubury, Pa. 

Dyaart, Alexander, Sinking Valley, Pa. 

I eepb, Hollidaysburg, Pa. 

• . G. E., Cornersville, Tenn. 
Miss, Philadelphia. 
Bamilton, Baltimore, Md. 
i: i ton, ReTi William, Smyrna, Pa. 

K.it ii. Rer. 8. M. J., Franklin, Pa. 
Rer, B. B., Westfield, N.J. 

Jl li ii. Philadelphia. 

Bckard, Rer. J. B», Washington, D.C. 

H in.. Rahiray, VJ. 
Edwards, James, Albany, N.V. 
E hrards, Rer. J., Bouth Hanover, la. 
Bells, Ber. W. w.. Carlisle, Pa. 
Elliott, David, D.D., Allegheny Cily, Pa. 
Elliott, Rer. George, Alexan 
Elliott, Mr-, ii. <;.. Philadelphia. 
Elliott, Then. II., Philadelphia. 
Elmer, Son. L Q. C, Bridgeton, N.J. 
Bbner, Urn., M.i>., Bridgetoi 
KNtun, vs. P., M D., Colnml 

pton, N.Y. 
Emery, w m. P., l'i mington, N J. 
Bnglo, kb I B Gta m tntown, Pa. 
■ nrtille, Pa. 

Engle, - . Belief . Pa, 

i Josepl P., Philad< Iphla. 

m. M., D.D., Philadelphia. 
i i . Liberty Corners, J. 

r., w,n. John B., Mi'. 



r os 



A LIST OF SUBSCRIBERS TO THE 



Espey, Mrs. Agnes, Rising Sun, la. 
Evans, Rev. R. R., Germantown, Tenn. 
Everhart, James B., West Chester, Pa. 
Evins, Col. S. N., Spartanburg, S.C. 
Ewing, Amos, Battle Swamp, Md. 
Ewing, Rev. C. H.,WestPhiladelphia,Pa. 

Faires, J. W., Philadelphia. 
Faris, Rev. John M., Steubenville, 0. 
Farley, Mrs. S. R., Colliersville, Tenn. 
Farnum, P., Holmesburg, Pa. 
Farquhar, Rev. J., Lower Chanceford, Pa. 
Farris, Rev. R. P., Peoria, 111. 
Farrow, James, Spartanburg, S.C. 
Feay, Joseph, Williamsburg, Pa. 
Fegley, Nathan, Mauch Chunk, Pa. 
Fell, Mrs. M. A., Waverley, Pa. 
Fellows, A. W., Summit Hill, Pa. 
Fenton, Rev. Jos. F., Kirkwood, Mo. 
Field, James, Philadelphia. 
Fillmore, Rev. J. 0., Batavia, N.Y. 
Fine, Hon. John, Ogdensburg, N.Y. 
Finlay, Rev. J. B., LL.D., Kittanning, Pa. 
Finley, Rev. J. P., Paris, Mo. 
Finley, Rev. Robert S., Metuchin, X.J. 
Finley, W. R., M.D., Hollidaysburg, Pa. 
Fish, Jonathan, Trenton, N.J. 
Fishback, Charles, M.D., Shelbyville, la. 
Fisher, Rev. James P., Johnstown, N.Y. 
Fisk & Little, Albany, N.Y. 
Fithian, George, Philadelphia. 
Fithian, Joseph, M.D., Woodbury, N.J. 
Fitten, John H., Augusta, Ga. 
Fleming, John, Shelocta, Pa. 
Fleming, John M., Colliersville, Tenn. 
Fleming, Morton, Shelocta, Pa. 
Fleming, Porter, Augusta, Ga. 
Fleming, Rev. W. A., Farmington, HI. 
Foote, W. Henry, D.D., Romney, Ya. 
Ford, Rev. C. E., Williamstown, N.J. 
Foresman, Rev. R. B., Middaghs, Pa. 
Forest, Joseph, Mauch Chunk, Pa. 
Forman, Mrs. A. H., Easton, Pa. 
Forman, Rev. A. P., Hannibal, Mo. 
Forsyth, A. R., Greensburg, la. 
Forsythe, Rev.W. H., Mt. Pleasant, Ky. 
Foster, Asa L., Council Ridge, Pa. 
Foster, John C, Jr., Bethel, Pa. 
Foster, Rev. Julius, Towanda, Pa. 



Foster, Thomas, Galena, HI. 
Foster, Wm., Boalsburg, Pa. 
Fowler, M. P., Tamaqua, Pa. 
Fowler, Peter, V. B., Newburg, N.Y. 
Frazer, Simon A., Hinesville, Ga. 
Fredericks, J.F., Th. Sem., Allegheny, Pa- 
Freeman, Alfred, M.D., New York City. 
Freeman, E. B., Scranton, Pa. 
Frew, H. B., Mifflintown, Pa. 
Frierson, John M., College Hill, Miss. 
Frisbie, Chauncey, Rome, Pa. 
Frisbie, Zebulon, Rome, Pa. 
Frothingham, Rev. W., Johnstown, N.Y. 
Frymire, John, White Haven, Pa. 
Fuller, Charles, Scranton, Pa. 
Fuller, E. C. Scranton, Pa. 
Fuller, Mrs. Harriet, Wilkesbarre, Pa. 
Fuller, J. S., Scranton, Pa. 
Fulton, Mrs. Sarah A., Philadelphia. 
Fulton, William F., Sumpterville, Ala. 
Futhey, J. Smith, West Chester, Pa. 

Gahgan, Daniel, Boalsburg, Pa. 
Galbraith, Rev. R. C, Baltimore, Md. 
Gale, E. Thompson, Troy, N.Y. 
Gamble, Archibald, St. Louis, Mo. 
Garvin, W., Louisville, Ky. 
Gaston, Rev. Daniel, Philadelphia. 
Gates, Jabez, Germantown, Pa. 
Gayley, Andrew, Philadelphia. 
Gayley, Andrew W., Philadelphia. 
Gayley, James F., M.D., Philadelphia. 
Gayley, Oliver, Parkesburg, Pa. 
Gayley, Rev. S. A., Battle Swamp, Md. 
Gayley, Rev. S. M., Media, Pa. 
Gayley, Rev. S. R., Shanghae, China. 
Gazlay, Rev. Sayrs, Williamsburg, 
Gibboney, D. C, Hollidaysburg, Pa. 
Gibson, David, R,omney, Va. 
Gibson, George S., M.D., Baltimore, Md. 
Gibson, John, Philadelphia. 
Gibson, J. W., M.D., St. Louis, Mo. 
Gibson, William J., D.D., Walker, Pa. 
Giger, Rev. G. M., Princeton, N.J. 
Gilbraith, Rev. J. N., Kirkwood, Mo. 
Gilchrist, Charles, Hat Creek, Va. 
Gildersleeve, W. C, Wilkesbarre, Pa. 
Gilfillan, Henry, Philadelphia. 
Gillespie, James, Oxford, Miss. 



HISTORY OF THE TRESEYTERIAN CHURCH. 



rot 



Gillespie, M i;i<ing Sun, la. 

I la, Pa 

Gilliland, John, Potter's Mil'-. Pa. 

:. Pa. 
I'a. 
'.'. iariiu 1!.. Aeademia, Pa. 
Given, Rev. James, Bakerstown, Pa. 
Henry, Hunting' Ion, Pa. 
B -v. Win. R., German Valley. N.I. 
- OtevOla, N.J. 
I. A., Tr.-n.Mit. I'a. 

■-. Ala. 

no, N< peek, Pa. 

topeok, i'a. 
peek, Pa. 
1 i LA.,1 

G a,J.SlB th. I'll S.-iii..l*rincetnii.N..I. 

W. H.. i> .!>.. I & otland, 

• , (la. 
hndria, Pa 

'!.. M.I'., 1'. -rrysvillc, Pa. 
i'!' I]. liia. 
G John Philadelphia. 

.. w. u.. Woodbmy, N.J. 
I a I '.. I ••!■■ ■ . v.i. 
W. H.. Biohmond, V i. 

!1.. n 1>.. M-ini-hiM, Tenn. 
1 iho, i» I'.. Beaton, Pa. 
Iphia 

H DO. II.. Phil , : 

ntea, N.J. 
i . ii.. Portemille, Tenn. 
al ■'.. s..i. 

VI. 

i . .. .i ;,!, B . Philadelphia 
Fork. 

\A . 
. Henry D., Philedelphhia 

I r.'iui i_\ win.- Ha&or, Pa> 
Ho, 

i. 111. 

I 



Crier, M. C, Philadelphia. 
Grimes, Bar, J. 8., Salem, 0. 
Griswold, John L., Peoria, 111. 
Groninger, Jacob, Perrysville, Pa. 
Grove, Rev. T. A., Wegee, 0. 
Grubb, William A., Philadelphia, 
Gubby, Rev. James, St. Louis, Mo. 
Guitcau, Rev. S., Baltimore. M'l. 
Guthrie, Rev. H. W., Mackinac, Mich, 
liutlirie, Miss M argaret, Cedar Creek, Bjt 
Gwatheney, Mrs. H. B., Richmond. Ya. 
Grwin, Hon. James, Iluntingilon, I'a. 
Cwviui, Samuel, Louisville, Ky. 

Hageman, William L., Williamsburg, 0. 
Hagerty. Joseph, Sinking Valley, Pa. 
Haggarty, Miss Mary, Belleville, Pi. 
Haines, A.W.. Thee! Ban., Allegheny.Pa. 

ft, t.. Elisabeth, \..i. 

T, George Pennington, N.J. 
Hall, J. A., Huntingdon, Pa. 
Hall, John, D.D., Trent. .n, N.J. 

Hail, Wilfred. Philadelphia, 

Balsey, L., D.D., Blooming Grove, N.Y. 

Hal-ey, R.-v. L .1.. bonjsrille, Ky. 

1 1 .'-.■.-. Btephen A.. Istoria, L. t., N.Y. 
Haley, &.C.,Jr M M.D., White Haren,Pa. 
lej . Bar. Win.. Bough Creek, \'a. 
Ilamill, Bar. Bobert, Boaiabni . Pa, 

llainill. Rev. S., Lawren.-cvill.-, V '. 

Hamilton) Alfred, D.l>., Coohranvi 
Hamilton) llias C. Philadelpbiai 
Hamilton, Junes, Annapolis, 1 1 
Hamilton, James, Washington City, D.O. 
Hamilton, K. it., Hollidaysborg, Pa 

Indiana Pa 
ii md, u-v. \. H . Bloomsbury, N.J. 

i w. k.. Partamooth, \'a. 
Hanewinokel) ?, W., Biohmond, Va 
\ \i., Florence, via. 
••. i: . I'H. Philadelphia. 
M. \ .. Philadelphia. 
i rille, M C. 
I Bar. L G . Bnmmil Hill, Pa 
Harper, June., Philadelphia 
John m.. Philadelphia 
phia 



708 



A LIST OF SUBSCRIBERS TO THE 



Harris, Rev. John S., Guthriesville, S.C. 
Harris, William D., New York. 
Harrison, A. S., Huntingdon, Pa. 
Harrison, J. R., Princeton, N.J. 
Harshberger, A., M.D., Perrysville, Pa. 
Hartz, Miss Mary, Wilkesbarre, Pa. 
Harvey, Joseph, Philadelphia. 
Harvey, Samuel, Germantown, Pa. 
Hassinger, Rev. Peter, Moro, 111. 
Hassler, CharlesW., Washington City,D.C. 
Hatch, Rev. L. D., Greensborough, Ala. 
Hautz, D., M. D., Alexandria, Pa. 
Hay, Rev. Samuel H., Camden, S.C. 
Hays, Christiana, Williamsport, Pa. 
Hays, John, Hollidaysburg, Pa. 
Hays, John R., Williamsport, Pa. 
Hazard, F., Mauch Chunk, Pa. 
Hazlett, Andrew, Allenville, Pa. 
Hazlctt, Mrs. Ann C, Kishacoquillas, Pa. 
Hazzard, Samuel, Sr., Philadelphia. 
Heacock, Rev. Jos. S., Kingsborough,N.Y. 
Headings, John, Allenville, Pa. 
Heaton, Reuben, Tamaqua, Pa. 
Heaton, Mrs. Sarah, Tamaqua, Pa. 
Heberton, Rev. A., Williamsport, Pa. 
Heberton, G. Craig, M.D., Philadelphia. 
Heebner, Abraham, Port Carbon, Pa. 
Helm, Rev. James I., Princeton, N.J. 
Henderson, Mrs. C, Florence, Ala. 
Henderson, Rev. James, Newville, Pa. 
Henderson, Joseph, Shelocta, Pa. 
Henderson, Thomas, Franklin, la. 
Hendrick, J. T., D.D., Clarksville, Tenn. 
Henry, Alexander, Columbia, Ky. 
Henry, Mrs. Alexander, Philadelphia. 
Henry, E., Nescopeck, Pa. 
Henry, George, Philadelphia. 
Henry, George W., Philadelphia. 
Henry, Rev. James V., Jersey City, N.J. 
Henry, Mrs. John S., Germantown, Pa. 
Henry, Rev. P. B., Bridgeton, N.J. 
Henry, Rev. Robert, Belfast, Ireland. 
Henry, S. C, D.D., Cranberry, N.J. 
Henry, William, Kishacoquillas, Pa. 
Hepburn, A., M.D., Williamsport, Pa. 
Hepburn, Rev. S. C, Goshen, N.Y. 
Heroy, Rev. P. B., Bridgeton, N.J. 
Herron, James B., Hillsborough, 0. 
Heston, Elisha B., Boalsburg, Pa. 



Hetrick, Andrew J., Elizabeth, N.J. 
Heugh, Walter, Philadelphia. 
Hewett, Benjamin L., Hollidaysburg, Pa. 
Hewett, Joseph N., Williamsburg, Pa. 
Hewit, N., D.D., Bridgeport, Conn. 
Hibben, Hon. A., Haddrells, S.C. 
Hickok, Rev. Milo J., Scranton, Pa. 
Hileman, Philip, Hollidaysburg, Pa. 
Hiles, James, Oxford Furnace, N.J. 
Hinchman, Reuben, Salem, N.J. 
Hinsdale, Rev. H. G., Oyster Bay, N.Y. 
Hitchcock. Rev. R. S., Baltimore, Md. 
Hoagland, 0. M., Bardolph, 111. 
Hodge, Rev. A. A., Fredericksburg, Va. 
Hodge, Charles, D.D., Princeton, N.J. 
Hodge, Hugh, M.D., Philadelphia. 
Hodge, Rev. J. A., Mauch Chunk, Pa. 
Hoffman, Josiah, Mauch Chunk, Pa. 
Holby, John, Greensburg, la. 
Hollenback, Mrs. Sallie, Wilkesbarre, Pa. 
Hollond, Miss H., Philadelphia. 
Holt, B. S., Baltimore, Md. 
Holt, Mrs., West Chester, N.Y. 
Hood, A., Bridgcville, Ala. 
Hood, John, Sr., Kittanning, Pa. 
Hood, M. G., Philadelphia. 
Hood, Samuel, Sr., Philadelphia. 
Hope, Levi, Oxford, Miss. 
Hopkins, John, Scranton, Pa. 
Hornblower, Rev. W. H., Paterson, N.J. 
Houser, Sophia, White Haven, Pa. 
Houston, Robert, Mauch Chunk, Pa. 
Houston, Rev. S. R., Union, Va. 
Howard, Mrs. B. C, Baltimore, Md. 
Howard, Pleasant C, Hat Creek, Va. 
Howard, W. D., D.D., Pittsburg, Pa. 
Howard, William T., Hat Creek, Va. 
Howe, Alvah, Bedford, N.Y. 
Howe, Mrs. Anna M., North Salem, N.Y. 
Howe, George, D.D., Columbia, S.C. 
Howell, Rev. J. L., Dobbs's Ferry, N.Y. 
Howsley, Rev. Alban S., Greenville, Ky. 
Hoy, James, Trenton, N.J. 
Hoyt, H. F., Theol. Sem., Columbia, S.C. 
Hoyte, Rev. James W., Nashville, Tenn. 
Hudson, Wm. A., Shade Gap, Pa. 
Huey, William, Shade Gap, Pa. 
Hughes, Rev. James E., Baltimore, Md. 
Hulburt, Chauncey, Philadelphia. 



HISTORY OF THE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. 



'09 



Hul-hizer, Daniel, Stewartsville, N.J. 
Humphrey, E. P., D.D., Danville, Ky. 
Humphrey. Hugh, Albany. N.Y. 

hrey, James E.. Keokuk, Iowa. 
Humphrey. J. L>., Tuwanda, Pa. 
Hunt, G. !'.. li ::.-;■. Miss. 
Hunt, Rev. Thomas P., Wyoming. Pa. 
Hunt.!-. J' .•. . :. Mb.. Tamaqua, Pa. 
Hunter, Rev. John, Danville, Ky. 
Hunter, ' Banbury, l'a. 

Hunter, William, Kent, l'a. 

n, Pa. 
Hunt . RUiootfe M 

Hosted, Bev. John, Zion, Bid. 

Maueh Chunk, Pa. 
Hutohinson, SamL B., Moooh Chunk, Pa. 
Hutchinson, Saml. N., Maach Chunk, Pa. 

tmsburg, Pa. 
Hyadman, Hugh, White Han 
Hyndi l'a. 

Hyndman, Mark. Maueh Chunk. Pa. 
irtsvflle, N..I. 

:■ v. T. W.. Greenville, 111. 

Ingham, Samuel I>.. Trenton, N ..I. 
Invillk-r-. C. E. de, Philadelphia, 

.iik"-, Florence, Ala. 
Irvine, William 11., Holhdaysburg, Pa. 

Irwin.' '., II"l!i'lay-liurg,Pa. 

Irwin, I: kdana, Mo, 

Philadelphia. 

■'■ iffiam, Hollid •;. ' oi •. Pa, 
J 

irg, Pa. 

i 

P i. 
.' 

■ ■.. thoo W., P 
Jaoqoi ..v. 

hiu. 

I ' 
.1. I... I'. ■ 
I 

'■.V. 



Jewett, Rev. D., WilkeebarrS, Pa. 
Johnson, Mrs AmeliaG^Holli day sbnrgJPa. 
Johnson. Jamee T.. Boalabarg, Pa. 
Johnson, Rev. John, Sybertsville, Pa. 
Johnson, L., Philadelphia. 
Johnson, Rev. 0. M.. New Hampton, N.Y. 
Johnson, Stephen, Unionville, S.C. 
Johnson, William H., Newton, N.J. 
Johnston, 1). 0. N., Steubenville, 0. 
Johnston, Francis, Philadelphia. 
Johnston, Robert, Bethel, Pa. 
Johnstone, Rev. W. 0., Philadelphia. 
J \ -. Benjamin, OrangevHle, Pa 
Jones, Rev. Charles J., New York. 
Jones, Hon. Joel, Philadelphia. 
Jones, Bey. John, Boottsville, N.Y. 

. Joseph H., D.D., Philadelphia. 
Jones, Paul T.. Philadelphia. 

Bamnel B., D.D., Bridgetou, N.J. 
Jones, Siiimn. Boranton, Pa. 
Jordan, A.. Banbury, Pa. 

Joseph, John M., Maueh Chunk, Pa. 
Junkin. l»avidX.,I).H.,Hullid : iy>hurg.Pa. 
Junkiu, J. M., M.D., Holmesburg, Pa. 

Kaufman, Rev. J. H., Baltimore, Bid. 
Seek, Charles I.., White Haven, Pa. 
!. ien, Peter, Efosoopeck, Pa 

K.llam, B. L, Maueh Chunk, Pa. 

Keith .v W Is, St. Louis, Ho. 

Kelly, Rev. David, Rook Maud, ill. 
Kelly, John P., Perryavflle, P • 

■ I'll. M.i»., Aoademia, Pa. 

. Charlottesville, \'a. 

John T., Baltimore, Ml. 
Kennedy, Mj David 8., Wen I ark, 
Kennedy, D., D.D., Troy, W.l 
Kennedy, Rev. Jamee P., Dickinson, Pa, 

iy. John, Leu I m ■ Pa, 
Kennedy, Rev. R, W. B . P 

Kennedy, T B., Chaml 
Kennedy, William, nfaueh Chunk, l'a. 
th, Bcllevillo, P >. 
Kerr, <;• Ml. 

Kerr, James, Ulenvil ■ 
Kerr, Joh 

Pa. 



710 



A LIST OF SUBSCRIBERS TO THE 



King, Mrs. B., Roswell, Ga. 
King, Jacob, Holmesburg, Pa. 
King, James Roswell, Roswell, Ga. 
King, Joseph L., Knoxville, Tenn. 
King, R. H., Albany, N.Y. 
King, T. E., Roswell, Ga. 
Kinkead, James M., Williamsburg, Pa. 
Kinzy, P., Hazletoa, Pa. 
Kirkham, Mrs. Thomas, Florence, Ala. 
Kirkpatrick, Rev. J., Jr., Trenton, N.J. 
Kline, Rev. A. L., Tuscumbia, Ala. 
Knauss, Rachel, White Haven, Pa. 
Kneeling, W. B., Th. Sem., Allegheny, Pa. 
Knickerbocker, Mrs. J., Waterford, N.Y. 
Knighton, Rev. F., Belvidere, N.J. 
Knowles, L. D., Mauch Chunk, Pa. 
Knowlson, James S., Troy, N.Y. 
Knowlson, R. J., Troy, N.Y. 
Knowlson, Mrs. R. J., Troy, N.Y. 
Knowlson, Richard J., Sand Lake, N.Y. 
Knox, A., Philadelphia. 
Knox, Rev. J. H. M., Germantown, Pa. 
Kocher, Conrad, Mauch Chunk, Pa. 
Kolb, Frederick T., Tamaqua, Pa. 
Kough, Jacob, Indiana, Pa. 
Krebs, John M., D.D., New York. 
Kutz, Henry C, Philadelphia. 

Ladd, Rev. Francis D., Philadelphia. 
Ladson, George W., Milledgeville, Ga. 
Lafferty, Rev. R. H., Charlotte, N.C. 
Laman, George, Philadelphia. 
Lane, Rev. Charles W., Talma ge, Ga. 
Lane, Rev. C. R., Tunkhannock, Pa. 
Lane, George, Fort Montgomery, N.Y. 
Lane, John G., Meigsville, 0. 
Lane, Rev. John J., Wrightsville, Pa. 
Lanier, T. C, Pleasant Ridge, Ala. 
Lanterman, William, Moro, 111. 
Lashell, James M., Allenville, Pa. 
Lathrop, A., Willimantic, Conn. 
Latimer, Misses, Philadelphia. 
Latta, Rev. James, Parkesburg, Pa. 
Latta, Rev. W. W., Honey Brook, Pa. 
Lauderdale, W. E., Geneseo, N.Y. 
Lawrence, Rev. S., Milroy, Pa. 
Leaman, Rev. John, M.D., Blue Ball, Pa. 
Lee, Edward W., Ballston Spa. N.Y. 
Leeper, Samuel, Columbiana, Ala. 



Leet, J. D., Hollidaysburg, Pa. 
Leggett, C, Mauch chunk, Pa. 
Leisenring, Mrs. A.M., Mauch Chunk, Pa. 
Leisenring, John, Council Ridge, Pa. 
Leisenring, Reuben, Council Ridge, Pa. 
Lemon, R. M., Hollidaysburg, Pa. 
Lewis, Asa S., College Hill, Miss. 
Lewis, J. L., Shelocta, Pa. 
Lewis, Justus, Rome, Pa. 
Lewers, Dickenson, Summit Hill, Pa. 
Lowers, Dixon, Summit Hill, Pa. 
Leyburn, John, D.D., Philadelphia. 
Library, Alexander Soc. of Inquiry, Phila. 
Library, Bd. of Domestic Missions, Phila. 
Library, Bd. of Education, Philadelphia. 
Library, Bd. of Foreign Missions, N.York. 
Library, Bd. of Publication, Philadelphia. 
Library, Classical Institute, Media, Pa. 
Library, Edge Hill School, Princeton.N. J. 
Library, Henry Institute of Science, Phila. 
Library, Judson College, La Grange, Ga. 
Library, New York State, Albany, N.Y. 
Library, Presb. Ch., Dobbs's Ferry, N.Y. 
Library, Presb. Ch., Frankford, Pa. 
Library, Presb'n Hist. Soc, Philadelphia. 
Library, Roseland Fem.Ins.,Hartsville,Pa. 
Library, Second Presb. Ch., Troy, N.Y. 
Library, Theol. Seminary, Allegheny, Pa. 
Library, Theol. Seminary, Danville, Ky. 
Library, Theol. Seminary, Princeton, N.J. 
Library, Th. Sem., Ref. Presb'n Ch., Phila, 
Liggett, E., Mauch Chunk, Pa. 
Limaster, W. P., Memphis, Tenn. 
Line, S. M., Mauch Chunk, Pa. 
Lingle, Thomas, Potter's Fort, Pa. 
Linn, Samuel, Hillsborough, 0. 
Lippincott, Charles, Mauch Chunk, Pa. 
Lippincott, Thomas E., Holmesburg, Pa. 
Lisa, Mrs. Mary M., Galena, HI. 
Littell, Rev. Luther, Mount Hope, N.Y. 
Livermore, Alonzo, Sunbury, Pa. 
Lockhart, Robert, Mauch Chunk, Pa. 
Lockwood, C. N., Troy, N.Y. 
Lockwood, H. N., Troy, N.Y. 
Logan, S. A., Johnstown, Pa. 
Logan, Rev. Saml. C, Constantine, Mich. 
Long, Thomas, Summit Hill, Pa. 
Lombaert, H. J., Altoona, Pa. 
Longshore, Mrs. Ann, Weatherly, Pa. 



HISTORY OF THE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. 



11 



Lorance, Rev. James II., Courtland, Ala. 
N.Y. 
oklyn, N.Y. 
Loucks, Peter 0., Peoria, 111. 

, liar, v. . i '.. p.M..springplace,Ga. 

! . veville, Del. 

Md. 

Loreland, ton, Pa. 

John T., Dnbnqne, Iowa, 
■ . l'.R, New York. 
Lowrie, Rev. John M.. 

a, Pa. 
. Uexander, Bhel ota, Pa. 
Lull, Augustus A.. Pontine, Mich. 
Qenrj B., Bridget n, N.J. 
\.v. 

. I'll. 

N.V. 

Lyon, Willinm M., Pittsburg Pa. 
1 w., Hardin, Iowa. 

i ::. I';l. 

Griffith, BoaUburg, Pa 

1'i.iladelphia. 

[phi*. 

. N'.J. 

Pa. 
Philadelphia. 
Itaddin, L, D . i'.. Philadelphia. 

■ . Princeton, N..J. 
D rid, D.D., I 
VUm Beta . B 
'•'. illi-iti, EL, Philadelphia. 

r,\.V. 

■ Pa. 
. John, Henry, III. 
1'.. M.I' , Tamaqi 
Ephm., Bcfa 

' ■ 

M H-: 

P. ] i . Md. 

Philadelphia. 
M irrin, 



Mason, Rev. J. D., Davenport, Iowa. 
Mason, W. P., New York. 

K W., M.P.. Scranton, Pa. 
Bfassey, Ann, Port Kennedy, Pa. 

Mateer, Rev. Joseph, Curllsville, Pa. 
Mathesun, A. 8., Columbus, Ga. 
Master-, Rev. F. R., Mattewan, N.Y. 
Mathews, E. M.. Oxford, Miss. 
Mattes, Charles F., Scranton, Pa. 
Matthews, Rev. James, Danville, Ky. 
Maybftft, Thomas. M.D., Kent, Pa. 
Uayne, James 8., Princeton, N.J. 
McAkese. Rev. D. Bt, Montgomery, N.Y. 
McAllister, II. N., Bellefonte, Pa. 
McAllister, James, Philadelphia. 
McAllister, John, Mauch Chunk, Pa. 
MoArthar, John, Philadelphia, 
McAuley, Rev. R. M., Philadelphia. 
McAuley, Rev. Win. II., Uuiontown. Ala. 
MoCahen, James A., Hollidayebnrg, Pa. 
MeCaU, \h-. II. K., Btewortsrille, N.J. 

M.-Calla. K.v. W. 1... Ashw 1. La. 

McCalliater, Rev. J. K., Booh bland, DL 

M'l'amaiit. Mr-. Mary, Tipton, l'a. 

McCanagher, John, Wilkesbarre, l'a. 
: .mi. Haddrells, B.C. 

MeCai ■ ut.in, N..I. 

KoCarter, Mr-. t;ii/.a, Newton, N.J. 
MoGarter, J. .lame-, Newton, N.J. 
MoCarter, Mary EL, Newton, N.J. 

M< ('alter, Tli-ma- N., N'.wton, N.J. 
K.v. Jain.-. Philadelphia. 

MoCaek H, EL, Clauselville, Ala. 
MoChesney, EL, M.D., Sheloota, l'a. 
MeClay, Samuel, M.D., Milroy, l'a. 
IfeCleUan, k. n . Galena, 111.' 
MoCtalan i. EL t.. a bona, l'a. 

m i. M, - Jane, Bellerille, l'a. 
MeCierkin, John, Portersville, Tenia. 

is 1 1-.- v\ '1'.. \\ 'ilkc-lmrr.-. l'a. 

OUnton Depdl 
MeCloskey, P>.. Phomlzrille, Pa. 
\. K.. Ohamberebni 

II. K.. Ohamberaborgi Pa. 
MoClure, John, Philadelphia 

L.WilliamsporLPa. 
MoOonn, John T., Tro 



r 12 



A LIST OF SUBSCRIBERS TO THE 



McConnell, John. Philadelphia. 
McCoray, M. M., Monroeville, Ala. 
McCoray, Neal, Monroeville, Ala. 
McCord, J. D., Pittsburg, Pa. 
McCord, Rev. W. J., Tribe's Hill, N.Y. 
McCorniick, Hugh, Belleville, Pa. 
McCormick, Rev. W. J.,Yonguesville, S.C. 
McCoy, Daniel, Shelocta, Pa. 
McCoy, John A., Peoria, 111. 
McCrea, James, Mauch Chunk, Pa. 
McCrea, William, Mauch Chunk, Pa. 
McCreary, Irvine P., Moulton, Ala. 
McCue, Miss A. E., Mechanicsburg, Pa. 
McCullough, William, Belleville, Pa. 
McCullough, William, West Chester, Pa. 
McCune, Clement, Philadelphia. 
McCurdy, David, Philadelphia. 
McDonald, Rev. S. H., Belleville, Pa. 
McDowell, John, D.D., Philadelphia. 
McDowell, Robert, Slatington, Pa. 
McElvain, J. N., Litchfield, 111. 
McFaden, Archibald, Hollidaysburg, Pa. 
McFarland, Rev. D., Elmwood, HI. 
McFarland, W., Kent, Pa. 
McFarlane, Andrew, Milroy, Pa. 
McFarlane, W. K., Minneapolis, Min. Ter. 
McGill, A. T., D.D., Princeton, N.J, 
McGill, William, Franklin, la. 
McGlashau, Cyrus, Meigsville, 0. 
McIIenry, Stephen, Philadelphia. 
Mcllwain, Rev. A., Indiana, Pa. 
Mclntyre, Archibald, Germantown, Pa. 
Mclntyre, J.A.,Theo.Sem.,Allegheny,Pa. 
McKee, James, Kent, Pa. 
McKee, Mrs. Lilley, Greensburg, la. 
McKee, Samuel, Columbia, Ky. 
McKee, W. B., Theol.Sem., Allegheny, Pa. 
McKeen, Col. Thomas, Easton, Pa. 
McKeen, Mrs. Thomas, Easton, Pa. 
MeKeever, William, Summit Hill, Pa. 
McKennan, Rev. Jas.W., West Liberty, Va. 
McKibben, Chambers, Chambersburg, Pa. 
MeKinlej-, B. B., Philadelphia. 
McKinney, A., Philadelphia. 
McKinney, A. F.,M.D.,Germantown,Tenn. 
McLean. D. V., D.D., Easton, Pa. 
McLean, Rev. Hector, Melrose, N.C. 
McLean, James, Jr., Summit Hill, Pa. 
McLean, S. C, Mauch Chunk, Pa. 



McMullin, John S., Philadelphia. 
McMullin, Rev. J. P., Pleasant Ridge, Ala. 
McMullin, Rev. R. B., Knoxville, Tenn. 
McMullin, Rev. S. H., Newburg, N.Y. 
McMurray, A. S., M.D., Philadelphia. 
McMurray, Rev. Jos., Newportville, Pa. 
McMurtrie, J., Summit Hill, Pa. 
McNair, Rev. John, Clinton, N.J 
McNair, Robert, Macomb, 111. 
McNeil, B. F., Mauch Chunk, Pa. 
McNeill, W. H., Columbus, Ga. 
McNite, William, Shirleysburg, Pa. 
McOmber, Philip H., Ballston Spa, N.Y. 
McPheeters, Joseph, Philadelphia. 
McPherson, James, Port Kennedy, Pa. 
McVicker, James, Washingtonville, Pa. 
Mead, Miss Loretta, North Salem, N.Y. 
Mead, Sarah, North Salem, N.Y. 
Mears, H., Hazleton, Pa. 
Mears, H. H., Hazleton, Pa. 
Mears, John S., Shelocta, Pa. 
Mebane, Rev. Wm. N., Madison, N.C. 
Menaidi, A. E., Wysox, Pa. 
Merle de Aubigne, J. H., D.D., Geneva, 

Switzerland. 
Metcalfe, Rev. A. D., Macon, Tenn. 
Metcalf, Rowland, Wilkesbarre, Pa. 
Metz, John, Williamsburg, Pa. 
Meyer, M. H., Dobbs's Ferry, N.Y. 
Miles, George, Huntingdon, Pa. 
Miles, Samuel, Baltimore, Md. 
Millard, Walter, New Hamburg, N.Y. 
Millen, Hugh, Mauch Chunk, Pa. 
Miller, Charles H., Huntingdon, Pa. 
Miller, Mrs. C, Danville, Pa. 
Miller, Jacob, Huntingdon, Pa. 
Miller, Joseph, Bethel, Pa. 
Miller, Rev. J. E., Stroudsburg, Pa. 
Miller, Gen. J. W., Spartanburg, S.C. 
Miller, Rev. L. Merrill, Ogdensburg, N.Y. 
Miller, R. Allison, M.D., Huntingdon, Pa. 
Miller, Samuel, Memphis, Mo. 
Miller, Sarah, Sybertsville, Pa. 
Miller, William, Philadelphia. 
Miller, W. T., Spartanburg, S.C. 
Milligan, William, Potter's Mills, Pa. 
Milliken, D. F., Kishacoquillas, Pa. 
Milliken, John, Academia, Pa. 
Milliken, Thomas J., Academia, Pa. 



HISTORY OF THE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. 



Milton, John, L 

Miner, Mrs. Joshua, Wilkesbarre, Pa. 
Mitchell, Joseph B., . Pa. 

Mitchell, Joseph G., Qermantown, Pa. 
Mitchell, W. C, Mi r ... Pa. 
Mitchell. William H.. D.D., Rosen 
MotlV' inoeton, N.J. 

N.Y. 
Montgomery, Mi-. Jane B., Danville, Pa. 

:.•:;.-. BoT.J 

Moodie, Thinner, Columbu-. ". 

- B., Louisville, Ky. 

'•■ a; i.. N..I. 
W., Sinking Valley, Pa. 
. Pa. 

John, Maoch Chunk, Pa. 

. Pa. 

- imuel, Mauoh Chunk, Pa. 

- unuel, Philadelphia. 

. Pa. 
il lUidaysburg, Pa. 
i , v.. D.D., Biohmond, Vu. 
1 1 ii. T. W., Lewistoe 

■'. ill] mi E., w i 
i. D., West Chester, N.V. 
Gilbert, Harmony < 
. .1. .1. A.. Bridesburg, Pa. 
Mist I. . Hartford, Conn. 
M n i: . Thistle, MA 

i rg, Pa. 

i i' . Mountain Home, Ala. 
\. L, J mi • - Greek, 111. 
ih, Springfield, <>. 
,Bem. t Colan] 
'i ,mi>. Waterloo, Pa, 
B . ; 

. Ky. 

B ,8hepberdsi 
\rtlnir. Bethel, Pa. 

. Del. 
i! illidaysburg, P k 

Sinking \'ai 

'i ..ik. 
" 
Mullen, John, Mancfa Chunk, Pa. 

M.m.l h.N.Y. 



Murkland, Rev. S. S., Richmond. Va, 
Murphy, Be?. Thomas, Frankford, Pa. 
Murphy, W. R., Trenton, N.J. 
Murray, J^sijih A.. Dillsburg, Pa. 
Murray, Nicholas, L>.1>., Elizabeth, N.J. 
Murray, William, Dobbs's Ferry, N.Y. 
am, G. W., D.D., Philadelphia. 
Myrick, Mrs. II. A.. Pontine, Mich. 

Nace, Jacob D., White navcn, Ta. 
Najriney, J. D.. Milroy, Pa. 
Nassau, 0. W., D.D., Lawrenecville. N.J. 
;. Bev. Joseph E., Warsaw, N.V. 
Needham, B., Seranton, Pa. 
Neil', John EL, Williamsburg, Pa. 
Neil, John, Kent, Pa. 
Neifl, William, I>.!>.. Philadelphia. 
Nelson, John, Annapolis, 0. 
Nelson, B., Philadelphia. 
Nesbitt, Joseph, Norristown, 1''. 
Nevin, Alfred, D.D., Lancaster, Pa. 
Nevin; K.\. l>. B., Sewioklyville, Pa. 
Nevus, William. Quinoy, 111. 
New, i'. B., Ml'.. Bodney, Miss, 
Newell, Bev. George W., Orangeville, Pa. 
Newell, Bar. T. M.. Waynesville, 111. 
Newlands, Mi-. Pranois, Troy, N.Y. 
Newton, Bev. Thomas II.. St. Louis, Mo. 
Nicholas, William P., Newton, N.J. 

Nich.'ls, Ktv. Jaini'H. lii-in-f,., \A. 

Niokle, James, Battle Bwamp, lid. 
Nixon, Bev, J. Howard, Cambridge, N.V. 
Nix. m, J. T., Bridgeton, VJ. 
Nixon, W. <;.. Bridgeton, N.J. 

Jr., M.D., Philadelphia, 
Norton, I'- , Newton Hamilton, Pa. 
Notaon, W., M.D., Philadelphia, 

M. B. a., Newburyport, 

\:a. 
srille, Ala. 
Bar. John W., N ihviUe, Trim. 
Okeaon, Banrael, Aoademia, Pa, 

v... Ubany, N.Y. 
Olmsteed, II. M.. Philadelphia, 
Olmstead, Bar. J. M , Philadelphia, 
Orblaon, William P., Huntingdon, Pa. 
T., Philadelphia, 



714 



A LIST OF SUBSCRIBERS TO THE 



Oit, Rev. Franklin, Kent, Pa. 

Orr, John, Sinking Valley, Pa. 

On - , Robert, Philadelphia. 

Orr, Rev. Samuel, Gordo, Ala. 

Orr, Thomas, Philadelphia. 

Osier, J. T., Princeton, N.J. 

Osmond, Rev. Jonathan, Bald Mount, Pa. 

Osmond, Rev. S. M., Lambertville, N. J. 

Owen, Rev. Griffith, Baltimore, Md. 

Owen, Hannah, Sr., Jeffersonville, Pa. 

Owen, Rev. Roger, Chestnut Hill, Pa. 

Owens, William J., Trenton, N.J. 

Paddock, Mrs. E., Pontiac, Mich. 
Page, Rev. J. A., St. Louis, Mo. 
Painter, Rev. Joseph, Kittanning, Pa. 
Palmer, B. M., D.D., New Orleans, La. 
Palmer, Rev. Edward, Pocotaligo, S.C. 
Palmer, John J., West Chester, N.Y. 
Palmer, S.C, Philadelphia. 
Pardee, Mrs. Anna M., Hazleton, Pa. 
Parish, Mrs. Phoebe, Wilkesbarre, Pa. 
Parke, Rev. N. Grier, Pittston, Pa. 
Parke, T. H., Battle Swamp, Md. 
Parker, Mrs. Dr., Port Gibson, Miss. 
Parsons, Rev. W. S., Wilkesbarre, Pa. 
r.iteriek, John, Tamaqua, Pa. 
Patterson, Andrew, Academia, Pa. 
Patterson, A., Williamsburg, Pa. 
Patterson, A. L., Independence, Pa. 
Patterson, Mrs. George, Springfield, Md. 
Patterson, James, Academia, Pa. 
Patterson, James, Dobbs's Ferry, N.Y. 
Patterson, J. H., M.D., Baltimore, Md. 
Patterson, John, Academia, Pa. 
Patterson, John, Philadelphia. 
Patterson, -Mrs. Mary, Academia, Pa. 
Patterson, N. Summit Hill, Pa. 
Patterson, Robert M., Princeton, N.J. 
Patterson, Robert, Richmond, 0. 
Patterson, Rev. R., Oakland College.Miss. 
Patterson, R,ev. Wm., Poundridge, N.Y. 
Pattison. James, Waterloo, Pa. 
Pattison, Robert, Holmesburg, Pa. 
Patton, Hon. R. M., Florence, Ala. 
Patton, Robert, Philadelphia. 
Patton, Thomas J., Knoxville, Ala. 
Paul, Sampson, Walterborough, S.C. 
Paull, Rev. Alfred, Wheeling, Va. 



Paxton, Rev. Thomas N., Marion, N.C. 
Paxton, Rev. William M., Pittsburg, Pa. 
Pease, Erastus H., Albany, N.Y. 
Peck, Rev. Thomas E., Baltimore, Md. 
Peebles, Matthew W., ^Bloody Run, Pa. 
Peelor, Jacob, Indiana, Pa. 
Pemberton, Ebenezer, Albany, N.Y. 
Perkins, Elisha H., Baltimore, Md. 
Perkins, Rev. Henry, Allentown, N.J. 
Peters, A. F., White Haven, Pa. 
Pettigrew, John, Shelocta, Pa. 
Pettigrew, John G., Philadelphia. 
Pettingell, Moses, Newburyport, Mass. 
Pharr, Edward, M.D., Houston, Ga. 
Pharr, Rev. Walter S., Park's Store, N.C. 
Phelps, Mrs. C, Pontiac, Mich. 
Phillips, Rev. B. T., Rondout, N.Y. 
Phillips, George C, Selma, Ala. 
Pierson, Rev. D. H., Elizabeth, N.J. 
Pierson, Rev. George, Florida, N.Y. 
Pierson, Rev. N. E., Unionville, N.Y. 
Piffard, Miss S., Piffard, N.Y. 
Pinkerton,J.A.,Theo.Sem.,Allegheny,Pa. 
Piper, G. W., M.D., Philadelphia. 
Piatt, Ebenezer, New York. 
Piatt, W. H., Scrantou, Pa. 
Plumer, George, Independence, Pa. 
Plumer, W. S., D.D., Allegheny, Pa. 
Polk, James A., Mauch Chunk, Pa. 
Pollock, Hon. James, Ilarrisburg, Pa. 
Pollock, Samuel, M.D., Williamsport, Pa. 
Porter, Alexander, Springfield, 0. 
Porter, Rev. David H., Savannah, Ga. 
Porter, James M., Jr., Easton, Pa. 
Porter, J. Barron, M.D., Bridgeton, N.J. 
Porter, John, Alexandria, Pa. 
Porter, Hon. J. M., LL.D., Easton, Pa. 
Porter, Robert, Mauch Chunk, Pa. 
Porter, W. A., Philadelphia. 
Potter, R. B., Philadelphia. 
Potter, W. W., Boalsburg, Pa. 
Potts, Joseph C, Trenton, N.J. 
Potts, Stacy G., Trenton, N.J. 
Powell, Joseph B., Port Kennedy, Pa. 
Powell, S. D., Philadelphia. 
Powers, F. H., Theol. Seni., Allegheny. Pa. 
Pratt, Rev. H. B., Bogota, New Granada, 

South America. 
Pratt, N. A., D.D., Roswell, Ga. 



HISTORY OF THE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. 



715 



Prentice, E. P., Albany, N.V. 

■ v. farad, Annapolis, 0. 
Price, Rev. K.. 

P., Mauoh Chunk, Pa* 
Ber. Thorns , aek,Mb. 

Primrose, William, Philadelphia. 
Proudfit, B.,Troy, N.V. 

Cia. 
Purcel, B. H., Blooms!. my. N.J. 
Porrianoe, Rot. <;. D., Baltimore, Ml. 
Purrianee, J., P.P., Oakland Call 
Purrianee, Mi-- M., Baltimore, .Ml. 

Quirk, John P.., Keokuk, Iowa. 

William, Mils 

skald, N..1. 
Pa. 
Rankin, lamei R>, AaheriRi 

Rankin, N.V. 

kenidge, N.J. 
. Rot. 11. v.. Ben fork. 
Rankin, William, .Jr., Ken fork 

m, Albion, Albany . N.V. 
Ransom, 8amue] •'., Albany, N.V. 
Raphael, William, Botmeebui 
i .1. D., Monnl Bbi noser, «>. 

I, Rot. Most ,8] rii . 
I B J. i>.. Banbury, Pa. 

Redd, Williai 

3i hi., Allegheny ,Pa 
. \ May, n.v. 
i ■ ■ B K . . " .-. r i. 

I ' 

. «i. 
h, r.ii'i^-'t. ii. v.i. 

- .iil.urg, 8.C. 

i i burg, Pa. 

■ Mr- i. .i.. v. . . i or, P*. 

1 I h l».. Piiil i'l"!phin. 

i. ii , Busebethport 

: , u inian i'., Kings! i 

\|... 
Ph. 

i. . v. Mam, LonfarU 



Augustus G.. Trenton, N.J. 
Richman, Moses, Jr., Salem. N.J. 
Riddle, Joseph B., Hollidaysburg, Pa. 
Riddle, Rev. Wo., Oakland College, Misa 
Riddle, William, Port Gibson, Hiss. 
Rigfater, Mrs J. F., Maucli Chunk, Pa. 
Ripley, Rev. J. B., Philadelphia. 
Ripple, Isaac, White Haven, Pa. 
Rittenhpase, Rev. J. M., Bart, Pa. 
P.. i.l. ins, GeorgeS., West Chester, N.V. 
Roberts, Rev. 11. M. Hflfeborough, 111. 
Robertson, Theodric, Richmond. Va. 
Robertson, Wm. C, Delaware City. Del 

:,. Rot. W. W.. Fulton, Mo. 
Robeson, Mrs. Sarah, HoIEdaysburg, Pa. 
Robinsen, Rev. C. S., Troy, N.V. 
Robinson, II. Miles, Palmyra. Mo. 

. Rer. Stuart, Danville, By. 
Robinson. William, Gillespie, 111. 

.. Wiiliam, Kent, Pa. 

Robison, II. »'.. Bhade Gap, Pa, 
Robison, Jobs II.. Perrysville, Pa. 
Robison, Ii 

T. ('., WashingtonviOe, Pa. 

Rookn t, Charles ii.. Mauoh Chunk, Pa. 

Rodenbough, Rer. II. B., EagtofiUe, Pa. 
Rodgers, James B., Philadelphia. 

James P.. Mount Joy, Pa, 
Rodgers, B. B . D.P., Bound Brook, N.J. 
. ;:. P., l».l'.. Albany, ' 

Rer.J.M., Middletowo l , ..int,N.J. 
Mi., Boranton, Pa. 
Boiler, Joshua, WflUamsburg, Pa 
Roller, Joshua H., WilUamsbu 
Roop, Edward, Philadelphia. 
Philadelphia. 
J .in.'-. Mauoh I'iiunk, Pa. 
i it , Philadelphia. 

Roth, P.. Bybertsrille, Pa, 
B «•-. Bar. John, Belli] 

m, Woodburj . N J. 
Nea \ oris. 
Rowland, c \ 

i.Wm.i; , M.h., BattieBwamp,Md. 
Buddie, John, Mauoh Chunk, Pa 
Rumple, Bar. •' . Bemphill 1 
Roadie, I. J . T. j t n.v. 



716 



A LIST OF SUBSCRIBERS TO THE 



Russell, Rev. D., Pike, N.Y. 
Russell, E. A., Jr., Middletown, Conn. 
Russell, James, Sinking Valley, Pa. 
Russell, Lawrence, Trenton, N.J. 
Russell, Rev. P., Fillmore, Pa. 
Rutter, Rev. L. C, Chestnut Level, Pa. 
Rutter, Nathaniel, Wilkesbarre, Pa. 
Ryerson, Hon. Martin, Newton, N.J. 
Ryors, Alfred, D.D., Danville, Ky. 

Salkeld, J. H., Mauch Chunk, Pa. 
Sargent, Winthrop, Philadelphia. 
Sartain, John, Philadelphia. 
Saunders, Rev. H., Trowbridge, Wis. 
Saye, Rev. J. H., Unionville, S.C. 
Saye, Robert H., Mauch Chunk, Pa. 
Sayre, David A., Lexington, Ky. 
Schenck, Rev. W. E., Philadelphia. 
Schott, James, Philadelphia. 
Scott, A. G., Knoxville, Tenn. 
Scott, Miss C, Adams's Mills, 0. 
Scott, Ezekiel, Mauch Chunk, Pa. 
Scott, George, East Palestine, 0. 
Scott, Geo. K., Theo. Sem., Allegheny, Pa. 
Scott, Rev. James, Holmesburg, Pa. 
Scott, James, D.D., Newark, N.J. 
Scott, James A., Richmond, Va. 
Scott, John, Huntingdon, Pa. 
Scott, John W., D.D., Washington, Pa. 
Scott, Joseph, Independence, Pa. 
Scovel, Rev. Alden, Bordentown, N.J. 
Scranton, George W., Scranton, Pa. 
Scranton, Joseph H., Scranton, Pa. 
Scranton, Selden, T., Scranton, Pa. 
Scribner, R,ev. William, Red Bank, N.J. 
Scudder, Jasper S., Trenton, N.J. 
Sechler, H. B. D., Danville, Pa. 
Sellars, Jacob M., Williamsburg, Pa. 
Service, L. N., M.D., Schuylkill Falls, Pa. 
Seward, Rev. A., Port Jervis, N.Y. 
Shade, George, Holmesburg, Pa. 
Shafer, Thomas H., Rahway, N.J. 
Sluuffer, G. W., Shirleysburg, Pa. 
Shane, Joseph, Richmond, 0. 
Sharon, J. D., Mifflintown, Pa. 
Sharp, Richard, Council Ridge, Pa. 
Sharp, S. M., Theo. Sem., Allegheny, Pa. 
Sharp, S. McD., Chambersburg, Pa. 
Sharswood, Hon. George, Philadelphia. 



Shaver, Peter, Mount Union, Pa. 
Shaw, Rev. P. H., Greenfield Hill, Conn. 
Shaw, W. D., Alexandria, Pa. 
Sheadle, Henry, Kishacoquillas, Pa. 
Sheafe, Mrs. J. F., New York. 
Shearer, Miss Ellen, Washingtonville, Pa- 
Shearer, J., Jeffersonville, Pa. 
Sheddan, Rev. S. S., Rahway, N.J. 
Sheets, A., Grand view, 0. 
Shepard, Furman, Philadelphia. 
Sherrerd, John M., Belvidere, N.J. 
Sherrerd, Samuel, Scranton, Pa. 
Sherrill, Rev. R. E., Dancyville, Tenn. 
Shields, Rev. Charles W., Philadelphia. 
Shields, James R., New Albany, la. 
Shinn, Rev. James G., Philadelphia. 
Shoemaker, C. D., Forty Fort, Pa. 
Shotwell, Rev. N., Milroy, Pa. 
Shumaker, J. H., Academia, Pa. 
Silliman, Rev. A. P., Clinton, Ala. 
Silliman, R. D., Troy, N.Y. 
Simonton, Rev. William, Williamsport, Pa. 
Simpson, F. T., Washington, Ga. 
Simpson, G. W., Mauch Chunk, Pa. 
Simpson, Rev. J., Portrush, Ireland. 
Simpson, J., Summit Hall, Pa. 
Simpson, J. B., Anderson, S. C. 
Simpson, Miss M., Farmington, HI. 
Simpson, Thomas, Mauch Chunk, Pa. 
Simpson, Thomas P., Mauch Chunk, Pa. 
Sinclair, William D., Trenton, N.J. 
Singletary, Rev. W. H., Claiborne, Miss. 
Sites, S. E., Mauch Chunk, Pa. 
Sitgreaves, Hon. C, Easton, Pa. 
Skidmore, Joseph R., New York. 
Skinner, E. W., Albany, N.Y. 
Slaughter, Mrs. E., Port Hudson, La. 
Slaughter, John R., Socotapoy, Ala. 
Sloan, G. W., Theo. Sem., Allegheny, Pa. 
Smalley, E., D.D., Troy, N.Y. 
Smith, Andrew, Wegee, 0. 
Smith, D. D., North Salem, N.Y. 
Smith, George W., Mauch Chunk, Pa. 
Smith, H. A., Clauselville, Ala. 
Smith, Isaac R., Philadelphia. 
Smith, Rev. James, Rochester, Pa. 
Smith, James, H., New Hamburg, N.Y. 
Smith, Mrs. Jane, Milroy, Pa. 
Smith, Rev. J. Henry, Charlottesville, Ya. 



HISTORY OF THE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. 



17 



Smitb. J. K., Manoh Chunk. Pa 
Smith, .1. P., Moro, 111. 

■ irton, N.J. 
Smith, Joseph, Hollidaysbni . 
Smith, Joseph, L>.1>.. Baltim 
Smith. Matthew, Mooch Chunk, Pa. 
Smith, 0. P., Milroy, Pa, 
Smith, Boborl B., 11 
Smith. R. I).. Williamsburg^ 

rartetovo, Pa> 
tenia, Pa 
Smith. William J., Soomsbary, N.J. 

I '. V., Bil mi ogham, Iowa. 
.1 imes P., Philadelphia. 

urleston, S.C. 
Bmythe, R.v. w. M.. Cahaba, Ala. 
I ... Richmond) Va 
: : inkfbrd, Pa 
rille, Rev. James, Bridgeville, Ala. 
. BridgeviBe, Ala. 
. debug, Pa. 
Dhelooi i. Pa 

Pj-ilman. EL I. 

1 B . D.D., Newcastle, Del 
w. r... D.D., Albany, N.V. 
il. I.., Philadelphia, 
tel, Annapolis, < ». 
Bprole, W. T.. D.D., Newburg, N.V. 
BprooU, BU v. \. w . Chester, Pa 
Staekbouse, Caleb, Phcenixville, Pa 

oa, 111. 
E 

0., Colombo*, G l 

i. A. P., I...ui-vill.-, Ky. 
k, Pa 

. i Imotbj, Mt.r 

i BOA, 

•;. Pa 
\\ illiam, Pl( Ua 

I Lin. 
;. Chunk, Pu. 

phia 
pro, I'. i 

Pa 
i i-i, Mttford, [reload. 
C.H., B.G 
fork, 
8 



Stewart, James, Bloomsburg. Pa 
Stewart, James, Bloomsbory, N.J. 
.Stewart. Jessie, Bloomsbory, N.J. 

•. Mrs Nancy. Sinking Valley, Pa 
Stewart, R., Williamsburg, Pa 
Stewart, William, Bloomsbory, N.J. 
SI wart, William, Philadelphia 

. William C, Philadelphia. 
Stewart, William J., Belleville. Pa. 
31 lee, EL 1».. Weath o-ly, Pa. 
Stillman, Rev. C. A., Gainesville, Ala. 
Stirling, John, Manch Chunk, Pa. 
Siitler. Jonathan, Hollidaysburg, Pa 
Stoddard, Mrs. Sarah. White Haven. Pa. 
Storms, John J., Dobbs's Ferry, N.V. 
Storrs, Miss Patsey, Richmond, Va 
Stott, Charles, Washington City, D.C. 
Btraban, Rev. F. G., Hopkinsville, By, 
Stratton, Rev. Daniel, Salem, N.J. 

Stratton, Thomas B., Trenton, N.J. 

Union, N.J. 
Stroble, Jacob, Zion, Pa 
Strothers, J. EL, Mauofa Chunk. Pa. 
Stryker, J. T., Sinking Valley, Pa 
Stryker, Thomas J.. Trenton. \..i. 
Stuart, George n.. Philadelphia 
Btaddiford, P.O., i» i'.. Lombertville,N.J. 
. Rev, T. B., Greenfield Bill, Conn. 
Sullivan, lira, \. B. t Colliersville, Tenn. 
Summerville, (i. w., Pleasant Bid| 
Bmnmey, A. T.. Asheville, N.C. 
Snmmey, l». P., aaheville, N.C. 
Sutton, John, [ndiana, Pa 

Sutton, William, Springfield, <>. 

:i I... Ilai ] • 
Swank. Philip, Manoh Chunk, l'a. 

Swartwood, John, Manoh Chunk, l'a. 

Swart/ell, ,l.,hn. Milrov. l'a. 

Swift, i:. r.. D.D., Ulegheny City, Pa 

Symington. \\ m., l». I ' ilaml. 

Bymmea, & i i' m.. Pli u at, 1 1. 
Synani . la 

T , Trenton, V.I 

Tabb, K. M., EUchmond, Va 
Tahnage, s. B . D i' . 

ii . Northumberland, Pa. 
bni . Pa 

bl, allegha . 



718 



A LIST OF SUBSCRIBERS TO THE 



Taylor, Rev. C. H., Ballston Centre, N.Y. 
Taylor, David H., White Haven, Pa. 
Taylor, Hon. George, Huntingdon, Pa. 
Taylor, John, White Haven, Pa. 
Taylor, John M., Shelocta, Pa. 
Taylor, Justus F., Albany, N.Y. 
Taylor, Mrs. S. M., Philadelphia. 
Thacher, George H., Albany, N.Y. 
Thayer, Rev. Lorenzo, Windham, N.H. 
Theu, George W., Augusta, Ga. 
Thomas, Dubre, Shelocta, Pa. 
Thomas, R,ev. Enoch, Beverly, Va. 
Thoma>, Israel, Shelocta, Pa. 
Thomas, W. H., Knoxville, Tenn. 
Thompson, Ira, Milroy, Pa. 
Thompson, James, Milroy, Pa. 
Thompson, J. B., Clinton, Ala. 
Thompson, J. J., Martha Furnace, Pa. 
Thompson, Lefferd, Bloomsbury, N.J. 
Thompson, Moses, Boalsburg, Pa. 
Thompson, Mrs. R. C, Oxford, Miss. 
Thompson, Rev. S. H., South Hanover, la. 
Thompson, Mrs. S., Milroy, Pa. 
Thompson, Rev. W. H., Bolivar, Tenn. 
Thorpe, John D., Cincinnati, 0. 
Timlow, Rev. Paul J., Marietta, Pa. 
Timlow, Rev. R. H., Newburyport, Mass. 
Titus, B. Wesley, Trenton, N.J. 
Todd, Rev. Isaac, Milford, Pa. 
Toomer, Joshua, Haddrells, S.C. 
Townsend, D.W., Th.Sem., Allegheny, Pa. 
Townsend, Peter, Lewistown, Pa. 
Townsend, T., Albany, N.Y. 
Toy, John, Philadelphia. 
Treadwell, George, Albany, N.Y. 
Tully, Rev. A., Harmony, N.J. 
Tully, Rev. David, Ballston Spa, N.Y. 
Turbett, Stuart, Perrysville, Pa. 
Turbett, William, Perrysville, Pa 
Turner, Jesse, Port Carbon, Pa. 
Turner, Thomas, Knoxville, Tenn. 
Turner, William, Kent, Pa. 
Tussey, David, Sinking Valley, Pa. 
Tyson, James L., M.D., Philadelphia. 

Umsted, Rev. Justus T., Keokuk, Iowa. 
Upham, M.A., Troy, N.Y. 

Vail, George, Troy, N.Y. 



Vaill, Rev. Thomas S., Knoxville, ni. 
Van Artsdalen, Rev. G., Colerain, Pa. 
Van Cleve, A. H., Trenton, N.J. 
Vanderbilt, Mrs. H., Brooklyn, N.Y. 
Van Duzen, S. R., Newburg, N.Y. 
Vannuys, C. D., Franklin, la. 
Van Pelt, R., Elizabeth, N.J. 
Van Rensselaer, A., New York. 
Van Rensselaer, C., D.D., Philadelphia. 
Van Rensselaer, C, Jr., Burlington, N.J. 
Van Rensselaer, H., New York. 
Van Rensselaer, P. L., Burlington, N.J. 
Van R,ensselaer, P. S., New York. 
Van R,ensselaer, S., Albany, N.Y. 
Van Rensselaer, W. P., Port Chester, N.Y. 
Van Schoonhoven, J. L., Troy, N.Y. 
Vantries, S., Potter's Mills, Pa. 
Vanuxen, F. W., Knoxville, Tenn. 
Vaughan, Rev. C. R., Lynchburgh, Va. 
Venable, Rev. H. I., Oakland, 111. 
Vermilye, A. G., Newburyport, Mass. 
Vermilye, J. D., Newark, N.J. 
Vermilye, Thomas E., D.D., New York. 
Vermilye, W. Romeyn, New York. 
Veuve, Rev. P.de,Th.Sem.,Princeton,N.J. 
Viele, Stephen, Troy, N.Y. 
Von Spreckleson, Mrs. J., Baltimore, Md. 
Vosburgh, J. W., Albany, N.Y. 
Voss, E. W. de, Richmond, Va. 

Waddell, John M., D.D., Oxford, Miss. 
Wadsworth, Rev. Charles, Philadelphia. 
Wait, Miss Mary F., Greenville, 111. 
Walke, J. H., Richmond, Va. 
Walker, Alexander, Shelocta, Pa. 
Walker, Cyrus, Macomb, 111. 
Walker, H. J., Williamsburg, 0. 
Walker, John, Shelocta, Pa. 
Walker, John R., St. Louis, Mo. 
Walker, Peter, Philadelphia. 
Walker, R. F., Shelocta, Pa. 
Wallace, Rev. D. A., Nashville, 111. 
Wallace, Mrs. Elizabeth, Muncy, Pa. 
Wallace, James, Meigsville, 0. 
Wallace, Rev. James A., Kingstree, S.C. 
Wallace, Rev. R. M., Brownsville, Pa. 
Wallace, W. C, Lawrenceville, N.J. 
Waller, Rev. B. J., Bloomsburg, Pa. 
Walton, John, Summit Hill, Pa. 



HISTORY OF THE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. 



19 



Walton, W. A., Angnata, Ga. 

..sis, Albion, N.Y. 

N.Y. 

vv. 

Levi, Rochester, N.Y. 

I . T. L>e Laeey, Paris, Ky. 
N.J. 
i, Joseph, D.D., Greensburg, la. 
•.. L I.., Lotderille, Ky. 
. H.Y. 
Waeson, John D., Albany, N.Y. 
Walk i.nille, Yu. 

I;, v. a. M . Behna, Ala. 
follidayaborg. Pa, 
Wateon, J'.hu, Bordentoim, N.J. 
ate, Ma 
. William E., Bordentown, N.J. 
Philadelphia, 
\ '. independence, Pa. 

Wi -t Libert] 
\ . ■ iter, <>. 

11 Point, N.J. 
v 

' i . 1 1 ,•:. i .r., Pa, 
I 

rtrille, N.J. 
Rer. II. II., I. 

'>'• in., W'vilu- ■ 

: I P., Fred • - i •. 7a. 
.1, D.D., Philadelphia. 

i-liaiiii-l, Jr., Cinoini 
I 

N.J. 

W , Philadelphia. 

VV. 

I i».. Trenton, N.J. 

•, Ya. 
i , Knoxville, 
White, Duncan, Philadelphia, 
White, John, B 
White, Robert, Philadelphia. 
■ 
Wbitohill, Mi 

.. | 

i B klttaore, M-l. 
laqua, Pa 
■ innk, Pa. 
; . Oolombna, I 



Wilcox, Hon. G. 11., Rodney, Miss. 
Wilcox. .1. B.j Ang ista, <ia. 
Wilcox, Timothy, Scranton, Pa. 
Wiley, Yancey, College Bull, Miss. 
Will, Adam, Eaileton, Pa. 

Willcox, L. F.. La Grange. Qa, 
Williams, Rev. P. T.. New Hamburg.N.Y. 
Williams, James C, Philadelphia. 
Williams, J. D., Pittsburg, Pa. 
Williams, Owen, Mauoh (.'hunk. Pa. 
Williams, Rot. W. *'<.. La Orange, Ala. 
Williamson, Rot. A.. Warren Grove, N.J. 

in, Rot. James, Athena, Pa. 
Willis, Rev. 11. P. B., Memphis, M , 
Wilson, Alexander, Millville. N.r. 
. Alexander, Pittsburg, Pa. 
, . Pa. 
Mrs. Catharine, Boalshnrg, Pa. 
Charles, Hillsborough, 0. 
Wilson, David, PerrysvUle, Pa. 
Wilson, Benry 11.. D.D.,8ewioklyville;Pa. 
ReT. II. N.. Hackettstown, N.J. 
n. New fork. 
. J.M.. P.M., Grindstone Point, Mo. 
Wilson, John, Bordentown, N..I. 
Wilson, John, Philadelphia. 

Wilson, John, Jr., Philadelphia. 

Wilson, Rot. John, Portersrille, Tenn. 
Wilson, John K.. Bewiekl] Bottom, Pa. 

John, Br., Bellevilh 
Wilson, Mrs. Martha, Sinking Valley Pa 
Wilson, Mise M. \ . She] hi i Isville, Ky. 
Wilson, Napier, Colnml ia, Tenn. 

k [aland, ill. 

v. 

Wilson, Son. Wm., LambertvUle, N.J. 
William D., Philadelphia. 

. P., i:. Hi fo 

I ,. 
.'.in. v.. Mo i •- Id, V.. 
WD on, w. W. f Mimintown, Pa, 
Winne, John, I 
Winning, ROT.Bobt,] 

:,, \. J., Snmmi( B 

r i. 
Pi 



720 



LIST OF SUBSCRIBERS, 



Witherspoon, A. J., Linden, Ala. 
Wolfe, G. R,, Milroy, Pa. 

W , Philadelphia. 

Wood, Rev. Charles, Philadelphia. 
Wood, Rev. D. T., Middletowu, N.Y. 
Wood, Edward P., Lawrenceville, N.J. 
Wood, F. M., Princeton, N.J. 
Wood, James, D.D., Philadelphia. 
Wood, Rev. Jeremiah, Mayfield, N.Y. 
Wood, John R., Lawrenceville, N.J. 
Wood, Rev. M. D., Walterborough, S.C. 
Woodruff, Jonathan, Rahway, N.J. 
Woods, J., D.D., Lewistown, Pa. 
Woods, Rev. J. E., Bentonport, Iowa. 
Woodside, John, Waterford, Pa. 
Work, Samuel, Holmesburg, Pa. 
Work, Rev. William R., Pottstown, Pa. 
Worrell, Rev. C. F. ( Perrinesville, N.J. 



Worthington, W., M.D., West Chester, Pa. 
Wray, Wm., Mauch Chunk, Pa. 
Wright, Rev. William, Quincy, 0. 
Wurts, Rev. J. H., Princeton, N.J. 
Wycoff, Cornelius, Richmond, 0. 
Wycoff, C. W., Richmond, 0. 
Wycoff, Isaac, Richmond, 0. 
Wyers, Wm. F., West Chester, Pa. 
Wylie, J. D., M.D., Oakland, 111. 
AVylie, Rev. T. A., Bloomington, la. 
Wylie, Rev. T. W. J., Philadelphia. 
Wynkoop, Rev. S. R., Wilmington, Del. 

Yorks, William, Danville, Pa. 
Young, G., Holmesburg, Pa. 
Young, 0. F., Rome, Pa. 
Young, William S., Philadelphia. 



ADDENDA. 



Adamson, William, Philadelphia. 
Alexander, T. T., Columbia, Ky. 
Allibone, S. Austin, Philadelphia. 
Bennett, Mrs. P., Newburg, N.Y. 
Campbell, John, Mauch Chunk, Pa. 
Clements, Thomas, Philadelphia. 
Connell, Henry, Philadelphia. 
Craig, James, Philadelphia. 
Craig. William, Philadelphia. 
Crane, Rev. Wm. H., Tallahassee, Fa. 
Cross, Rev. A. B., Baltimore, Md. 
Curran, John P., M.D., Philadelphia. 
Downs, Thomas, Philadelphia. 
Doyle, Richard, Academia, Pa. 
Edgar, Rev. Cornelius H., Easton, Pa. 
Findlay, Charles, Baltimore, Md. 



Finney, Rev. William, Churchville, Md. 
Fleu, Charles, St., Germantown, Pa. 
Gabel, John, Philadelphia. 
Gorham, John B., Newburg, N.Y. 
Guy, Robert, Philadelphia. 
Haldeman, John, Philadelphia. 
Hodge, Rev. Samuel, Lyons's Store, Tenn. 
Jackson, Alexander, Philadelphia. 
Johnes, Edward R., Newburg, N.Y. 
Livingston, George, Bellefonte, Pa. 
Maxwell, William, Easton, Pa. 
McKinney, D., D.D., Pittsburg, Pa. 
Paul, James, Philadelphia. 
Pike. Rev. John, Rowley, Mass. 
Sprat, J., Philadelphia. 
Storrie, Thomas, Philadelphia. 






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